To Unidentified
5 August 1884 • Elmira, N.Y. (MS: CLjC, UCCL 09177)
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
References
- 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.
- 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
- Microfilm Edition of Mark Twain’s Previously Unpublished Letters. Prepared by Anh Quynh Bui, Victor Fischer, Michael B. Frank, Robert H. Hirst, Lin Salamo, and Harriet Elinor Smith. 8 vols. Berkeley: The Bancroft Library. 2001
MS, CLjC.
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.
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.