To Isaac White
29 April 1876 • Hartford, Conn.
(MS, in pencil: Sotheby’s, New York, December 1993, UCCL 07692)
(SUPERSEDED)

Saturday A. M

Dr Sir:

I delayed because I meant to run down myself & sp talk about the pictures—but I haven’t time.1

They promise to be admirable photographs. We want a few of each (I have marked the No. on corner) so that we can determine which we like best. Two or three of the negatives have “missed fire,” so to speak. Those I have marked “none,” to prevent mistakes.

Some ‸ relatives of ours, now visiting us, will leave Tuesday, ‸noon,‸ & would like to rob me carry away some of these pictures. So—if you could get some of them ready without serious inconvenience—very well.2

Yrs Truly

S. L. Clemens

Explanatory Notes

Editorial Signs

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1 On 1 May 1876, the Hartford Courant printed the following notice (2):

Mr. Isaac White

made some fine portraits of Mark Twain last week, cabinet size, which he has for sale at his place of business, 15 Pratt street.

Copies of two of White’s portraits of Clemens survive, showing him in the sealskin coat he had purchased in Buffalo in September 1871. One—a standing pose, with arms folded—is held currently by the Mark Twain Memorial (CtHMTH); for the other, see Dec 76 to Unidentified.

“Cabinet” was “a popular size of professional portrait, having a mount measuring 6⅝ in. by 4¼ in. The actual print may be 5½ in. by 4 in., 5¾ in. by 4 in., or 6 in. by 4¼ in.” (Jones 1912, 80). White also photographed Susy and Clara Clemens (see 26 Apr 76 to Howells, n. 8, and 5 May 76 to Conway; 21 Sept 73 to JLC and PAM [tentatively dated 12? Sept 73 and assigned to Orion and Mollie Clemens in L5, 438]).

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2 The visiting relatives have not been identified, but may have been members of the Langdon family. The Clemenses had other guests as well. James T. and Annie Fields, who came to Hartford on 27 April for the second performance of The Loan of a Lover, stayed until 29 April. In her diary Annie Fields composed a long account of their visit (see Excerpt from Annie Fields’s Diary for a full transcription).

Description of Texts and Provenance

Copy-text:

MS, in pencil, collection of Robert Daley, seen at Sotheby’s, New York, while awaiting sale in December 1993.

Previous publication: MicroPUL, reel 1.

Provenance:An unlisted item in lot 214, sold by Sotheby’s on 10 December 1993 to an unidentified buyer.