3 December 1869 • Brooklyn, N.Y. (Brooklyn Eagle, 4 Dec 69, UCCL 02283)
I was to have lectured in Brooklyn on Monday, Dec.Ⓐemendation 6th, but a misunderstanding has intervened, and I take this method of informing the public that I have canceled the engagement, and will not be present upon that occasion.2explanatory note
Brooklyn, Dec. 3d.
Thomas Kinsella (1832–84), a native of Ireland, was hired by the Brooklyn Eagle as a typesetter in 1858, became a law reporter, and in 1861 assumed the editorship, which he retained until his death. Under Kinsella’s direction, the Eagle became Brooklyn’s leading journal and claimed “the largest circulation of any evening paper in the United States” (Rowell, 65).
The misunderstanding is explained by the next two letters, to James Redpath. Clemens had delivered the first of his scheduled Brooklyn lectures on the evening of 1 December, at the Bedford Avenue Reformed Church, for the Brooklyn Library Association, also called the Williamsburgh Library Association. The Brooklyn Times reported that the performance “gave delight” and evoked “ever recurring peals of laughter.” And the Brooklyn Eagle remarked upon “the frequent interruptions of the audience whose senses of appreciation were unmistakeably tickled in the right spot” (“The Sandwich Islands,” Brooklyn Times, 2 Dec 69, 2; “Williamsburgh Library Association Lecture,” Brooklyn Eagle, 2 Dec 69, 3; Lain, 68).
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
- Nebraska State Library, Lincoln, Neb.
- SLC (Samuel Langhorne Clemens). Mark Twain’s Letters, Volume 3: 1869. Edited by Victor Fischer, Michael B. Frank, and Dahlia Armon. The Mark Twain Papers. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press. Also online at MTPO[bib32371]. 1992
- Rowell, George P. Geo. P. Rowell & Co’s American Newspaper Directory. New York: George P. Rowell and Co. 1869
- Lain, George T., comp. The Brooklyn City and Business Directory for the Year Ending May 1st, 1870. Brooklyn: Lain and Co. 1869
“Our Correspondence. Mark Twain’s Lecture—A Card,” Brooklyn Eagle, 4 Dec 69, 2, in a microfilm edition of the newspaper in the Brooklyn Public Library, Brooklyn, N.Y. (NB).
see source text; L3 , 417.
The MS of Clemens’s letter is not known to survive.
More information on provenance may be found in Description of Provenanceclick to open link.