To Francis P. Church
18 October 1870 • Buffalo, N.Y.
(MS facsimile: Mott 1957, facing 255, UCCL 00513)

Oct. 18th

Friend Church,

The matter referred to in the last paragraph of this “Memoranda” is a quiet satire on your infernal Galaxy portraits & is accompanied by a ghastly likeness of King William which I have [ work ] worried over till it is bad enough to suit me[.] It must be engraved exactly as I have drawn it or it will not be suffer damage. It can not be improved on, by making it either better or worse.1

The whole thing is good, but if you do not want it, just drop off the paragraph which refers to it & I will understand, & will publish it as a lithograph, through Prang.2

Sometimes I [ am ] get ready to give you notice that I’ll quit at the end of my year because the Galaxy work crowds book work so much, but I am very fond of doing the Memoranda, & take a live interest in it always—& so [I hang ]on & hang on & give no notice—still the chances are that I shall be frightfully crowded for time eventually; & so it is better that I make some mention of it while yet it is far off, so that if I have to give notice at last it [won’t ] seem like taking “snap-judgment” you know.3

Yrs faithfully

Clemens.

[enclosure:] 4

Explanatory Notes | Textual Commentary

Editorial Signs

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1 In addition to his drawing of King William, Clemens presumably enclosed his manuscript for the December “Memoranda,” whose final paragraph read:

All my soul is in Art lately, since I have been taking lessons in drawing and painting. I have drawn, and am now engraving, an elegant portrait of King William of Prussia, as a companion to the customary Galaxy portraits, and to complete the set. This work of Art, with accompanying remarks, will appear in the January number of this magazine. (SLC 1870, 885)

The Galaxy usually printed a full-page engraving of one of its contributors, or of some public figure in the news, as a frontispiece. The August 1870 number had used an unflattering likeness of Mark Twain (see 27 June 71 to Redpath). The burlesque “portrait” of King William occupied almost a full page of the “Memoranda” in the January 1871 Galaxy and was accompanied by “commendations” from famous artists and other prominent individuals, including the king (SLC 1871, 150–52).

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2 See 4 Oct 70 and 9 Oct 70, both to Redpath.

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3 For Church’s reply, see the enclosure with the next letter.

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4 The original drawing that Clemens enclosed has not been found, but is reproduced here from the engraving made from it. The printer’s copy for the December “Memoranda” is also lost; for its contents, see References (SLC 1870).

Description of Texts and Provenance

Source text(s):

MS facsimile, Mott 1957, facing 255, is copy-text for the letter. The enclosed drawing (shown in partial facsimile by Mott) is reproduced here from “The Portrait” in “Memoranda,” Galaxy 11 (Jan 71): 150–59.

Previous publication: L4, 210–212; for the letter, Mott 1957, 367–68, 380, excerpts; the enclosed drawing (and the now lost MS for “The Portrait”) were reproduced in several collections of sketches.

Provenance:The MS, part of the Willard Church Collection in 1938, is not known to survive (see the commentary to 9 Feb 70 to Church).

Emendations and textual notes:

work • [‘k’ partly formed]

am • [doubtful; possibly ‘can’]

I hang • I hang han

won’t • [possibly ‘s won’t’]