14 August 1881 • Elmira, N.Y. (MS: CtY-BR, UCCL 02006)
I’ll suggest one point for the circular—to-wit: that you don’t forget to glorify the illustrations; & also that you call attention to the historical accuracy of the costumes.
The more I examine the pictures, the more I am enchanted with them. If it is going to be too extravagantly costly to make 20 books of them on India paper— the e—a large I item of the expense is the mounting, doubtless—maybe we can print them on a heavy, tinted paper & survive the outlay. Let us talk of this when I am in Boston August 26th. But I don’t know but I shall have to borrow enough money to get one set printed on India paper, anyway. Merrill probably thinks he originated his exquisite boys himself, but I was ahead of him there!—in these pictures they look & dress exactly as I used to see them in my mind two years ago. It is a vast pleasure to see them cast in the flesh, so to speak.—they were of but perishable dream-stuff, before. /over
I hain’t got no proofs, yet—but there may be some in the post office now.
The Great Seal wasn’t to be engraved—ole Brer Osgood forgot that, I reckon. I’m afraid to put it in—we will talk about that, August 26.
What is that new
References
- Yale University, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, New Haven, Conn.
- 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
- Hill, Hamlin, ed. Mark Twain’s Letters to His Publishers, 1867–1894. Edited by Hamlin Hill. The Mark Twain Papers. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press. 1967
- SLC (Samuel Langhorne Clemens). The Prince and the Pauper: A Tale for Young People of All Ages. Boston: James R. Osgood and Co. 1881
MS, Collection of American Literature, CtY-BR.
MTLP, 139–40.
The MS, donated by Owen F. Aldis in 1910, was laid in a copy of SLC 1881.
More information on provenance may be found in Description of Provenanceclick to open link.