6 March 1879 • Paris, France (MS: Cifaldi, UCCL 11673)
notation and letterhead circled:
Address for
2½ or 3 months.
I have just received your letter, and it contains just what I want—that is, the settling up of the Riley matter & the canceling of the contract for a book in place of the Riley book. This I wrote to Perkins the other day. I have long had the idea that the $2000 had been paid, or that it had been wiped out by a clause in a later contract—so I wrote Perkins to look into the matter & see how it stood, & if he could not make himself certain then leave the $2000 matter alone till I come home, but in the meantime get the darned Riley contract canceled, so that I should have no contract hanging over me but the one between Frank & me. I told him that if I still owe that $2000 I should not hesitate to pay it promptly.
Now if Perkins satisfies himself that I owe the $2000, let my copyright money now in the Company’s hands be drawn on for the paying of it, immediately; & the old contract be canceled; but if Perkins is in doubt, let the Co. cancel the contract anyway & receive my written obligation to do the right thing when I reach home. But I want that old dead (& by me long ago forgotten) contract canceled.
Yes, I would like to buy the plates of my books if they can be had at a reasonableⒶemendation figure. What will they take for them?
I am glad the new book promises to have a large sale, for our expenses in Paris (we arrived 5 days ago & propose to remain in this hotel 3 or 4 months) are something perfectly gaudy. There is still a slight chill in the air, & the firewoodⒶemendation for the children’s bedroom & our small parlor costs five dollars a day! If we had arrived here during the colder weather I should now be a tramp—& my appeal would be, “For the love of God give a poor stranger fifteen or twenty dollars worth of wood to keep him from freezing this bitter night.” We live in what is called a very cheap little hotel,—I wish I knew what it costs to live in a dear one.
Six eve days hence an artist a mile from here on top of the hill of Montmartre will yield up his studio to me for until my book shall be finished—& on that day I buckle in on my book again.
I wrote Frank about 2 or 3 weeks ago—addressed it simply “Hartford.” Give him my regards.
References
- 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, collection of Angelo Cifaldi. The MS was seen in 1990, when it was in the collection of Nick Karanovich.
MicroPUL, reel 1; Sotheby’s catalog, 19 June 2003, lot 37, partial publication.
The letter, part of the Karanovich collection, was sold in 2003 by Sotheby’s to the Heritage Book Shop; at a later date it was bought by Angelo Cifaldi.
More information on provenance may be found in Description of Provenanceclick to open link.