19 March–8 May 1872 • Elmira, N.Y. (MS: NN, UCCL 09046)
“S. L. Clemens, Elmira, N. Y.,” witholl will find me without any trouble.
Our tribe is rather unusually well, nowadaysⒶemendation 1explanatory note
All that survives of this letter is the top third of one page, numbered “3,” cut or torn from a folder and inscribed on one side. The stationery is of a type Clemens used intermittently in 1872. He must have written this letter from Elmira in the spring, when his “tribe,” including Langdon and newborn Susy, were healthy. On 20 April, for instance, he wrote to Redpath: “Our tribe are flourishing—the new cub most of all.” Clemens and Olivia visited the Fairbankses in Cleveland from 9 to 14 May, and upon their return to Elmira found Langdon suffering from a bad cold. He was still unwell when they left Elmira on 28 May.
References
- New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox, and Tilden Foundations, New York
- 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 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, Ford Collection, Personal (Miscellaneous) Papers, Manuscripts and Archives Division, The New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundations (NN). The surviving letter fragment is cut or torn from a folder of white laid paper bearing a “P & P” embossment.
L5 , 64–65.
The MS belonged to journalist and businessman Gordon Lester Ford (1823–91), and was probably donated to NN in 1899.
More information on provenance may be found in Description of Provenanceclick to open link.