Explanatory Notes        Apparatus Notes (Ⓐ)

Source: The James S. Copley Library, La Jolla, California. The collection of the Copley Library was sold in a series of auctions at Sotheby’s, New York, in 2010 and 2011 ([CLjC])

Cue: "I apologize for"

Source format: "MS"

Letter type: "[standard letter]"

Notes:

Last modified: 2005-03-14T00:00:00

Revision History: Larson, Brian | BL 2005-03-14 was ODaU

Published on MTPO: 2025

Print Publication:

MTPDocEd
To Unidentified
5 August 1884 • Elmira, N.Y. (MS: CLjC, UCCL 09177)
Elmira, N.Y. Aug. 5/84.
Dear Sir:

I apologize for this rag of paper, & explain that I am cruising in strange waters, where one paper is scarce. (Paper is always scarce in strange waters—& even in the other kind.)

Truly Yours
S. L. Clemens
Mark Twain
Textual Commentary
Source text(s):

MS, CLjC.

Previous Publication:

AAA catalog, sale of 14 and 15 May 1914, lot 238, partial transcription; Sotheby’s (London) catalog, sale of 25 July 1972, lot 394, paraphrase and partial transcription; Sotheby’s (New York) catalog, sale of 29 October 1996, lot 231, paraphrase; MicroPUL, reel 2.

Provenance:

This letter was offered for sale at the auction of Reverend Thomas R. Slicer’s library in 1914. After it was offered at auction in 1972, it was next offered for auction as part of the Victor and Irene Murr Jacobs Collection in 1996.

More information on provenance may be found in Description of Provenanceclick to open link.

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