To Mary A. Cord
18 November 1875 • Hartford, Conn.
(MS: MdU, UCCL 11342)

The author of this book offers it to Aunty Cord with his kindest regards, & refers her to page 202 for a well-meant but libelous portrait of herself & also the bit of personal history which she recounted to him once at “Quarry Farm.”1

Samℓ. L. Clemens
Mark Twain

Hartford, Nov. 18, 1875.

Explanatory Notes

Editorial Signs

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1 The “libelous portrait,” unsigned but possibly done by True Williams, was the title illustration to “A True Story,” as reprinted in the gift copy of Sketches, New and Old that Clemens inscribed.

Description of Texts and Provenance

Source text(s):

MS facsimile. The editors have not seen the MS, which is in the Special Collections Department, University of Maryland, College Park (MdU). The letter is inscribed in a first-edition copy of Mark Twain’s Sketches, New and Old (American Publishing Company, 1875).

Previous publication: L6, 593–593; “A True Story of Mother and Son Reunited During Civil War,” Washington Post, 27 Feb 1986, 13, MS facsimile.

Provenance:The inscribed book was passed down from Mary Cord to her grandson, Leon Condol, who donated it in 1986.