To Olivia L. Clemens
3 December 1873 • London, England
(MS: CU-MARK, UCCL 00991)

Dec. 3.

Livy darling, I am as busy as I can be, day & night, revamping & memorizing my “Roughing It” lecture, because I want to use it next week.1 After that I want to try a reading here if I get time to prepare [it.2 I ]won’t write you more, now, except to say that I love you with all my heart.

Samℓ.

Mrs. Samℓ. L. Clemens | Forest street | Hartford | Conn [in upper left corner:] America. | [rule] [postmarked:] london • w i de 3 73 [and] new york dec 18 paid all.

Explanatory Notes | Textual Commentary

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1 Clemens delivered “Roughing It on the Silver Frontier” from 8 through 20 December. He had previously used essentially the same lecture while on tour in the East and Midwest in December 1871 and early 1872 (“Mark Twain’s New Humorous Lecture,” London Daily News, 6, 15, 20 Dec 73, 4; 2 Jan 72 to Redpath, n. 1).

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2 No such “reading” took place.

Description of Texts and Provenance

Source text(s):

MS, Mark Twain Papers, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley (CU-MARK).

Previous publication: L5, 493–494; LLMT, 364, brief paraphrase.

Provenance:see Samossoud Collection in Description of Provenance.

Emendations and textual notes:

it. I • it.—|I