To Nathaniel W. Starbird, Jr.
20 December 1877 • Hartford, Conn.
(MS, correspondence card: CU-MARK, UCCL 01514)

Hartford, Dec. 20.

slc‸Mr. N. W. Starbird, Jr—‸

Dear Sir: Please send to me by express the brass fender (54½ inches long,) which you showed to me & Mr. Howells, editor of the “Atlantic Monthly” Tuesday morning.1 In enclose check for the stipulated price ($60.)

Please ship it at once, so that I can make a Christmas present of it2 & escape further expense under that head.

Ys Truly

Samℓ. L. Clemens

Explanatory Notes

Editorial Signs

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1That is, 18 December 1877, the morning after the Atlantic Monthly birthday dinner for John Greenleaf Whittier, at which Clemens delivered his famous speech depicting three tramps calling themselves Emerson, Longfellow, and Holmes (see 23 Dec 1877 to Howells, and 27 Dec 1877 to Emerson, Longfellow, and Holmes). Nathaniel J. Starbird, Jr., was a salesman at Freeman A. Walker and Company, Boston dealers in house furnishings (Boston Directory 1877, 832, 896).

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2For Olivia Clemens (see 28 Dec 1877 to Howells).

Description of Texts and Provenance

Source text(s):

MS, correspondence card, CU-MARK.

Previous publication:

MicroML, reel 4.