9 April 1874 • Hartford, Conn. (Goodspeed’s Book Shop: 1927?, lot 4633; 1930, lot 28, UCCL 01073)
Dear Stillson—Will Ⓐemendation you please have all exchanges saved & Ⓐemendation put by for me that contain that silly item that I have “received & paid the bill for a complimentary supper given to me Ⓐemendationin Hartford—? Ⓐemendation In confidence, I am bringing a libel suit & I want these papers as evidence. Don’t mention it 1explanatory note
The New York World’s “exchanges” were copies of other newspapers it received in exchange for copies of its own issues. Clemens may have learned of this “silly item” from Charles Dudley Warner, the acting editor of the Hartford Courant (13 Apr 74 to the editor of the Courant, n. 1click to open link). Warner saw it in the New York Evening Post on 8 April (“Personal,” 2) and must have consulted Clemens before reprinting it in the Courant on 10 April, with a disclaimer:
A paragraph something like the following, which is from the New York Post, is going the rounds of the papers:
Mark Twain recently received and paid the bill for a complimentary supper tendered him in Hartford.
Mr. Clemens has not received nor paid for any complimentary supper in Hartford. Where do such absurdities originate? (“Personal,” 2)
References
- Goodspeed’s Book Shop. Goodspeed’s Catalogue No. 174. Autographs of Famous Men & Women. Boston: Goodspeed’s Book Shop. 1927?
- Goodspeed’s Book Shop. Catalogue No. 191. Autographs from Goodspeed’s. January. Boston: Goodspeed’s Book Shop. 1930
- 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
- American Art Association. Fine Books and Manuscripts of the Greatest Rarity and Interest. Including the Further Property of a Prominent Pennsylvania Collector. Sale of 1 and 2 December. New York: American Art Association. 1924
- 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
No copy-text. The text is based on two transcriptions, each of which derives independently from the MS:
Both P1 and P2 describe the MS as an “A.l.s. 2 pp. April 9, ’74,” and both texts are incomplete. A third text, AAA 1924, lot 532 (paraphrase and extract), while independently transcribed from the MS, provides no unique readings.
L6 , 102–103.
When offered for sale in 1924 the MS was part of the collection of William F. Gable. Adopted readings followed by ‘(C)’ are editorial emendations of the source readings.
More information on provenance may be found in Description of Provenanceclick to open link.