To
William Dean Howells
per Telegraph Operator
3 March 1874 • Hartford, Conn. (MS, copy received: MH-H, UCCL 01059)
3 March 1874 • Hartford, Conn. (MS, copy received: MH-H, UCCL 01059)
blank no. 1.
the western union telegraph company.
the rules of this company require that all messages received
for transmission, shall be written on the message blanks of the company, under
and subject to the conditions printed thereon, which conditions have been agreed
to by the sender of the following message.
thos. t. eckert, gen’l sup’t,
new york. william orton, pres’t, geo. h. mumford, sec’y, new york.1explanatory note dated Hartford Ct 3. 187 received at to W. D. Howells. Edtor Atlantic Mnthly— All right come down with me Friday the superior value of birds in the hand over those that still sport in joyous freedom amid the leafy depths of their native woodland is so universally recognized that I cannot feel necessitated to enlarge upon it to one of the first minds of the age at three cents a word by telegraph 2explanatory note Mark 60 pd (Good, sounds just like him
Opr)
new york. william orton, pres’t, geo. h. mumford, sec’y, new york.1explanatory note dated Hartford Ct 3. 187 received at to W. D. Howells. Edtor Atlantic Mnthly— All right come down with me Friday the superior value of birds in the hand over those that still sport in joyous freedom amid the leafy depths of their native woodland is so universally recognized that I cannot feel necessitated to enlarge upon it to one of the first minds of the age at three cents a word by telegraph 2explanatory note Mark 60 pd (Good, sounds just like him
Opr)
Explanatory Notes
1
For identification of the Western Union officials, see L5 , 9 n. 1, 48–49 n. 1, and 264 n. 1 top.
2
The figure “60” below is the telegraph operator’s count of words in the body of the telegram. Clemens was attempting to complete arrangements for Howells’s visit to Hartford (4 Mar 74 to Howells, n. 1click to open link).
References
- Harvard University, Houghton Library, Cambridge, Mass.
- Machlis, Paul, ed. Union Catalog of Clemens Letters. Edited by Paul Machlis. Berkeley, Los Angeles, London: University of California Press. [In some cases, UCCL catalog numbers cited in this volume supersede those assigned in 1986 and reflect corrections or additions to the catalog since publication. An updated version of the catalog can be consulted via the Letters Search page at MTPO.] 1986
- SLC (Samuel Langhorne Clemens). Mark Twain’s Letters, Volume 6: 1874–1875. Edited by Michael B. Frank and Harriet Elinor Smith. The Mark Twain Papers. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press. Also online at MTPO[bib32371]. 2002
- Paine, Albert Bigelow, ed. Mark Twain’s Letters. Edited by Albert Bigelow Paine. 2 vols. New York: Harper and Brothers. 1917
- MTHL. Mark Twain–Howells Letters. Edited by Henry Nash Smith and William M. Gibson, with the assistance of Frederick Anderson. 2 vols. Cambridge: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press. 1960
- SLC (Samuel Langhorne Clemens). Mark Twain’s Letters, Volume 5: 1872–1873. Edited by Lin Salamo and Harriet Elinor Smith. The Mark Twain Papers. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press. Also online at MTPO[bib32371]. 1997
MS, the copy received, a telegram blank filled out by the receiving telegraph operator, Houghton Library, Harvard University (MH-H, shelf mark bMS Am 1784 [98]).
L6 , 59; MTL , 1:214, with omission; MTHL , 1:14–15.
see Howells Letters in Description of Provenance.
More information on provenance may be found in Description of Provenanceclick to open link.