3 December 1874 • Hartford, Conn. (MS facsimile: Paine 1917, 790–91, UCCL 01160)
Let us change the heading to “Piloting on the Miss in the Old Times”—or to “Steamboating on the M. in the Old Times”—or to “Personal Old Times on the Missi.” We Ⓐemendationcould change it for Feb. if now too late for Jan.
I Ⓐemendationsuggest it because the present heading is too pretentious, too broad & general. It seems to command me to deliver a Second Book of Revelation to the world, & cover all the Old Times the Misssissipi Ⓐemendation(dang that word, it is worse than type or Egypt) ever saw——whereas here I have finished Article No. III & am about to start on No. IV, & yet I have spoken of nothing but of piloting as a science so far; & I doubt if I ever get beyond that portion of my subject. And I don’t care to. Any muggins can write about Old Times on the Miss of 500 different kinds, but I am the only man alive that can scribble about the piloting of that day—& no man ever has tried to scribble about it yet. Its newness charms pleases me all the time—& it is about the only new subject I know of.
If I were to write fifty articles they would all be about pilots & piloting Ⓐemendation—therefore let’s get the word Piloting into the heading. There’s a sort of freshness about that, too.1explanatory note
letter docketed by Howells: From Mark Twain. | WD.H.
Howells replied (CU-MARK):
“Old Times on the Mississippi” remained the “heading” of Clemens’s series, but, beginning with the second installment, descriptive subtitles were added; all but the last of these included the word “pilot” or “piloting” (see SLC 1875 [MT02540], 1875 [MT02542], 1875 [MT02543], 1875 [MT02544], 1875 [MT02545]).
References
- Paine, Albert Bigelow. “Some Mark Twain Letters to William Dean Howells and Others.” Harper’s Monthly Magazine 134 (May): 781–94. 1917
- 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. Mark Twain: A Biography. By Albert Bigelow Paine. 3 vols. New York: Harper and Brothers. [Volume numbers in citations are to this edition; page numbers are the same in all editions.] 1912
- 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
- University of California, Mark Twain Papers, The Bancroft Library, Berkeley
- SLC (Samuel Langhorne Clemens). “Old Times on the Mississippi. I.” Atlantic Monthly 35 (January): 69–73. 1875
- SLC (Samuel Langhorne Clemens). “Old Times on the Mississippi. IV. The ‘Cub’ Pilot’s Education Nearly Completed.” Atlantic Monthly 35 (April): 446–52. 1875
- SLC (Samuel Langhorne Clemens). “Old Times on the Mississippi. V. ‘Sounding.’ Faculties Peculiarly Necessary to a Pilot.” Atlantic Monthly 35 (May): 567–74. 1875
- SLC (Samuel Langhorne Clemens). “Old Times on the Mississippi. VI. Official Rank and Dignity of a Pilot. The Rise and Decadence of the Pilots’ Association.” Atlantic Monthly 35 (June): 721–30. 1875
- SLC (Samuel Langhorne Clemens). “Old Times on the Mississippi. VII. Leaving Port: Racing: Shortening of the River by Cut-offs: A Steamboat’s Ghost: ‘Stephen’s’ Plan of ‘Resumption.’ ” Atlantic Monthly 36 (August): 190–96. 1875
MS facsimile, Paine 1917, 790–91.
L6 , 303–4; MTB , 1:532, excerpt; MTL , 1:235–36, facsimile of MS page 1 and transcript; MTHL , 1:47–48.