27 March 1884 • Hartford, Conn. (MS, in pencil: NPV, UCCL 02939)
The fact looks correct—that is, that this was a legitimate item of the “manufacture”—but the price! Inquire, & see what this work was that was worth so much . How many hours—& how much an hour.
When we added $10,000 “addition” to this house, the architect drew all the plans, & gave personal attention to the building, for $500, & would have drawn the building contracts without additional charge.
Alexander & Green charged me but $800 for that whole, long, complex Slote case.
To approve & “place” 300 pictures, & contract for the drawing & processing of them is not a long or heavy job, I take it. If Anthony was hired to run through the MS & suggest things for illustration that seems kind of unnecessary, for the artist could have done that himself.
But find out what length of time Anthony put on this work, & what the system of charging is,—then we can come to a right judgment in this matter.
S. L. C. It isn’t worth while for Osgood to write me is on isolated details—he can lay all his objections before me at one & the same time, through you when you come back here.
letter docketed by Webster: 2.38 per hour— | 25 days full.
References
- Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, N.Y.
- 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
- Webster, Samuel Charles. Mark Twain, Business Man. Edited by Samuel Charles Webster. Boston: Little, Brown and Co. 1946
MS, in pencil, Jean Webster McKinney Family Papers, Special Collections, NPV.
MTBus, 245–46.
see McKinney Family Papers in Description of Provenanceclick to open link.