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Add to My Citations To Elisha Bliss, Jr.
27 June 1870 • Elmira, N.Y.
(Transcripts: WU; Anderson Galleries 1921 and 1922,
lots 151 and 52A; Chicago, lot 113, UCCL 00483)
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[j. langdon,em spaceem spaceem spaceem spaceem spaceem spaceoffice of j. langdon & co. miners and dealers in

j. d. f. slee,em spaceem spaceem spaceem spaceem spaceem spaceem spaceanthracite and bituminous coals. 6 baldwin st.

t. w. crane,

c. j. langdon.em spaceem spaceem spaceem spaceem spaceem spaceem spaceem spaceem spaceem spaceem spaceem spaceelmira, n.y., June 27 1870 ]

[Friend Bliss— ]

[Yes, ] the “Reading the Innocents” is good—[tip-top.] 1 We came here in a great hurry a week ago. Mr. Langdon is very ill. Sometimes we feel sure he is going to get [well, ] but then again hope [well nigh passes away. ] [This morning the case looks so well that all are pretty cheery again.

Yrs ]

[Mark. ]

Explanatory Notes | Textual Commentary

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1 See the American Publishing Company’s advertising circular, reproduced below. The circular’s sales boast was a gross exaggeration. Total sales of The Innocents Abroad through the first three quarters (ending 30 April) were approximately 60,378 copies. By the end of the fourth quarter (30 July) sales totaled some 69,500 copies (Hirst 1975, 314, 316, 317).
figure-il4006

Circular advertising The Innocents Abroad. Yale University Library (CtY). Courtesy of Leon T. Dickinson. See 27 June 1870 to Elisha Bliss, Jr.



glyphglyphSource text(s):glyph
No copy-text. The text is based on four transcriptions, each of which derives independently from the MS:
P1Ayer handwritten transcription (WU)
P2 Anderson Galleries 1921, lot 151
P3 Anderson Galleries 1922, lot 52A
P4 Chicago 1936, lot 113
P1 is in the Rare Book Department, Memorial Library, University of Wisconsin, Madison (WU). P2 and P3 describe the MS as ‘A. L. s., 1 p., 4to. Elmira, June 27, 1870. To Mr. Bliss. Signed “Mark.”’; P4 describes it as ‘A. L. S. “Mark.” 1p., 4to. Elmira, N. Y., June 27, 1870. To Mr. Bliss. Written on his father-in-law’s business stationery. J. Langdon & Co., Elmira.’

glyphglyphPrevious publication:glyph L4, 159–160.

glyphglyphProvenance:glyphThe MS evidently remained among the American Publishing Company’s files until it was sold (and may have been at that time copied by Ayer; see Brownell Collection in Description of Provenance). The Ayer transcription was in turn copied by a typist and both the handwritten and typed transcriptions are at WU. The present location of the MS, offered for sale in 1921, 1922, and 1936, is not known.

glyphglyphEmendations, adopted readings, and textual notes:glyph

No copy-text. The text is based on four transcriptions, each of which derives independently from the MS:

P1 is in the Rare Book Department, Memorial Library, University of Wisconsin, Madison (WU). P2 and P3 describe the MS as ‘A. L. s., 1 p., 4to. Elmira, June 27, 1870. To Mr. Bliss. Signed “Mark.”’; P4 describes it as ‘A. L. S. “Mark.” 1p., 4to. Elmira, N. Y., June 27, 1870. To Mr. Bliss. Written on his father-in-law’s business stationery. J. Langdon & Co., Elmira.’


j. langdon . . . 1870 (C) • Elmira N.Y June 27—1870 (P1); Elmira, June 27, 1870. [reported, not quoted] (P2, P3); Elmira, N. Y., June 27, 1870. . . . Written on his father-in-law’s business stationery. J. Langdon & Co., Elmira. [reported, not quoted] (P4)

Friend Bliss— (C) • Friend Bliss (P1); To Mr. Bliss [reported, not quoted] (P2, P3, P4)

Yes, (P3, P4) • Yes‸ (P1, P2)

tip-top (P2, P3, P4) • tip top (P1)

well, (P4) • well‸ (P1)

We . . . away. (P1, P4) • [not in] (P2, P3)

This . . . Yrs (P1) • [not in] (P2, P3, P4)

Mark. (P2, P3, P4) • Mark‸ (P1)