1 This letter is assigned arbitrarily to the earliest likely period in 1870 when Clemens was in Buffalo, but he might have written it there in any of five later periods: 10 or 11 May–6 June; 12–22 June; 12? August–1? October; 9? October–9? December; or 17–31 December. The request for an autograph may have come from John H. Bancroft (1856?–1936) who later became controller of the American Sugar Refining Company (“Aged Jersey Couple Die 3 Hours Apart,” New York Times, 12 June 1936, 23).