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Add to My Citations To Elisha Bliss, Jr.
10? April 1869 • Elmira, N.Y.
(Transcripts: CU-MARK; Davis 1951;
Parke-Bernet 1938, lot 37; MTB, 1:380, UCCL 00288)
(SUPERSEDED)
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[Elmira, April Something, 1869.] 1

[Friend [Bliss—]

All the names were correct, I think, except Masserano. Jam ] [the Queen of Greece ] [in anywhere. She ] [is the daughter of the Emperor of Russia [&] can stand it.] [ No —put her in the Grecian chapter—that will be better.2

You will find [ Scylla & Charybdis ] mentioned [ before ] you come to Athens—perhaps the cut you speak of comes in there. (If it is a picture of Acropolis, though, put it in along with the description of the Acropolis in the Chapter on Greece.)] 3

I think the “suppositions” [I dealt in about the oyster shells were not [funny ] but foolish] [—& so, being disgusted I marked them out & was sorry I had ever printed them—so I think it much better to let them stay out. But you are always accommodating & I wish to be accommodating too—so if you prefer it, let the “suppositions” go in. (I don’t say that reluctantly, but cordially & heartily, & [ meaning ] it.)] 4

[Your printers are doing well. I will hurry the proofs.]

[Always, &c.,]

[Mark.]

Explanatory Notes | Textual Commentary

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1 The date conjectured for this letter depends upon Clemens’s first sentence, which alludes to his listing of famous men, including the Prince of Masserano (Carlo Emanuele Ferrero La Marmora, 1788–1854), in chapter 15 (page 140) of The Innocents Abroad. Clemens had evidently corrected a misspelling of “Masserano.” In response, Bliss appears to have requested confirmation, which the present letter provides, that the other names were correct. Clemens finished his proofreading of chapters 15–17 (pages 139–70) by 3 April (Saturday), for he noted in his copy of Holmes’s Autocrat: “April 2—midnight—Livy and I read 18 pages of proof—Versailles and Genoa [chapters 16 and 17]” (PH in CU-MARK, in Booth, 459). He probably mailed these chapters back to Bliss on 5 April (Monday). If Bliss received them two days later and replied on the following day (8 April)—enclosing the next batch of proof as well (chapters 18–22, pages 171–227)—then Clemens probably received his letter and wrote this response on Saturday, 10 April. It is unlikely that this exchange took less time, and it cannot have taken more, since it clearly was completed before 12 April, when Clemens replied to yet another question from Bliss about chapter 16.

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2 The former Olga Konstantinovna Romanov (1851–1926) had been the wife of Christian William Ferdinand Adolphus George (1845–1913), King George I of Greece, since 1867. She was the daughter of Grand Duke Konstantin Nikolaevich Romanov (1827–92), the younger brother of Aleksandr Nikolaevich Romanov (1818–81), Tsar Aleksandr II. Her portrait eventually appeared, as Clemens here decided, in chapter 33 (page 355) of The Innocents Abroad. Bliss’s questions about where to place this and other illustrations do not signify that Clemens had received proofs for these later chapters. The process of inserting electrotyped engravings in the standing type necessarily preceded, by several days, at least, the generation of author’s proofs.

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3 “View of the Acropolis, Looking West” appears in chapter 32 of Innocents, the first of the two chapters partly devoted to Greece. It follows the “Oracle’s” confusion of Scylla and Charbydis with Sodom and Gomorrah and precedes Mark Twain’s night visit to the Acropolis.

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4 The “suppositions” accounted comically for the presence of oyster shells in the hills above Smyrna. Probably in early March, when he went over his manuscript for the last time, Clemens “marked them out” in a clipping from the 21 November 1867 San Francisco Alta California that he used as part of his printer’s copy for chapter 39 (SLC 1867; Hill, 28; Hirst, 234). The passage was restored to that chapter (pages 414–15), as Bliss requested.



glyphglyphSource text(s):glyph
No copy-text. The text is based on four transcripts:
P1 MTB, 1:380
P2 Parke-Bernet 1938, lot 47
P3Typescript in CU-MARK
P4 Davis 1951
P1 may have derived either from the MS or from a handwritten transcription of it (now lost) made by Dana Ayer; P2 derived directly from the MS; and P3 and P4 each derived independently from Ayer. Albert Bigelow Paine had transcribed the short excerpt that appears in P1 by 1912 (‘Your ... proofs’ [188.3]), the same year he published the identical text, with only an editorial change in the final punctuation, in Paine, 944. If he had seen the MS, rather than the Ayer transcription, it was no longer available five years later (MTL, 1:157). P2, however, which published the dateline, signature, and three excerpts (‘the Queen of Greece’ [187.3–4], ‘is ... it’ [187.4–5], and ‘I think ... foolish’ [187.11–12]), was certainly based on the MS, which had fallen into private hands by 1938 (see Provenance). The identical text was republished with no changes in Parke-Bernet 1941, lot 87. P3, a typescript made by Bernard DeVoto from the Ayer transcription, was made in 1942 while the transcription was still in Brownell’s possession. P4 apparently derived independently from the Ayer transcription after the Brownell Collection had moved to WU.

glyphglyphPrevious publication:glyph L3, 187–188; see Copy-text; MTLP, 20–21; McBride, 365, excerpt.

glyphglyphProvenance:glyphThe MS evidently remained among the American Publishing Company’ records until it was first sold (and probably at that time was copied by Dana Ayer; see Brownell Collection, pp. 581–82). The MS was eventually acquired by William Randolph Hearst, who sold it in 1938, presumably to Harold Fisher, who in turn sold it in 1941 (Parke-Bernet 1938 and 1941). Its present location is unknown.

glyphglyphEmendations, adopted readings, and textual notes:glyph

No copy-text. The text is based on four transcripts:

P1 may have derived either from the MS or from a handwritten transcription of it (now lost) made by Dana Ayer; P2 derived directly from the MS; and P3 and P4 each derived independently from Ayer. Albert Bigelow Paine had transcribed the short excerpt that appears in P1 by 1912 (‘Your ... proofs’ [188.3]), the same year he published the identical text, with only an editorial change in the final punctuation, in Paine, 944. If he had seen the MS, rather than the Ayer transcription, it was no longer available five years later (MTL, 1:157). P2, however, which published the dateline, signature, and three excerpts (‘the Queen of Greece’ [187.3–4], ‘is ... it’ [187.4–5], and ‘I think ... foolish’ [187.11–12]), was certainly based on the MS, which had fallen into private hands by 1938 (see Provenance). The identical text was republished with no changes in Parke-Bernet 1941, lot 87. P3, a typescript made by Bernard DeVoto from the Ayer transcription, was made in 1942 while the transcription was still in Brownell’s possession. P4 apparently derived independently from the Ayer transcription after the Brownell Collection had moved to WU.

Adopted readings followed by ‘(C)’ are editorial emendations of the source readings.


Elmira, April Something, 1869. (P3, P4) • Elmira, April Something, 1869. [reported, not quoted] (P2); [not in] (P1)

Friend ... Jam (P3, P4) • [not in] (P1, P2)

Bliss— (C) • Bliss: (P4); Bliss:— (P3)

the ... Greece (P2, P3, P4) • [not in] (P1)

in anywhere. She (P3, P4) • [not in] (P1, P2)

is . . . it. (P3, P4) • is . . . it‸ (P2); [not in] (P1)

& (P2) • and (P3, P4)

No ... Greece.) (C) • No ... Greece.‸ (P3); No ... Greece.) (P4); [not in] (P1, P2)

Scylla & Charybdis (P3) • Scylla and Charybdis (P4)

before (P3) • before (P4)

I . . . foolish (P2, P3, P4) • [not in] (P1)

funny (P2) • funny, (P3, P4)

—& ... it.) (C) • —and ... it., (P3, P4); [not in] [‘&’ also emended from ‘and’ at 187.12 (‘& was’), 14, and 188.2 (twice)] (P1, P2)

meaning (P3) • meaning (P4)

Your ... proofs. (P3, P4) • Your ... proofs‸ (P1); [not in] (P2)

Always, &c., (C) • Always, etc., (P3, P4); [not in] (P1, P2)

Mark. (P3, P4) • Mark‸ [reported, not quoted] (P2); [not in] (P1)