[notation and letterhead circled:]
Address for
2½ or 3 months.
the normandy hotel
7, rue de l’échelle
& 256, rue saint-honoré
paris
——
March 6, 1879.
Friend Bliss—
I have just received your letter, and it contains just what I want—that is, the settling up of the Riley matter & the canceling of the contract for a book in place of the Riley book. This I wrote to Perkins the other day. I have long had the idea that the $2000 had been paid, or that it had been wiped out by a clause in a later contract—so I wrote Perkins to look into the matter & see how it stood, & if he could not make himself certain then leave the $2000 matter alone till I come home, but in the meantime get the darned Riley contract canceled, so that I should have no contract hanging over me but the one between Frank & me. I told him that if I still owe that $2000 I should not hesitate to pay it promptly.
Now if Perkins satisfies himself that I owe the $2000, let my copyright money now in the Company’s hands be drawn on for the paying of it, immediately; ‸& the old contract be canceled;‸ but if Perkins is in doubt, let the Co. cancel the contract anyway & receive my written obligation to do the right thing when I reach home. But I want that old dead (& by me long ago forgotten) contract canceled.
Yes, I would like to buy the plates of my books if they can be had at a [reasonable] figure. What will they take for them?
I am glad the new book promises to have a large sale, for our expenses in Paris (we arrived 5 days ago & propose to remain in this hotel 3 or 4 months) are something perfectly gaudy. There is still a slight chill in the air, & the [firewood] for the children’s bedroom & our small parlor costs five dollars a day! If we had arrived here during the colder weather I should now be a tramp—& my appeal would be, “For the love of God give a poor stranger fifteen or twenty dollars worth of wood to keep him from freezing this bitter night.” We live in what is called a very cheap little hotel,—I wish I knew what it costs to live in a dear one.
S‸ix‸ eve days hence an artist a mile from here on top of the hill of Montmartre will yield up his studio to me for until my book shall be finished—& on that day I buckle in on my book again.
I wrote Frank about 2 or 3 weeks ago—addressed it simply “Hartford.” Give him my regards.
Your friend
S. L. Clemens
Textual Commentary
Source text(s):Previous publication:
MicroPUL, reel 1;
Sotheby’s catalog, 19 June 2003, lot 37, partial publication.
Provenance:The letter, part of the Karanovich collection, was sold in 2003 by Sotheby’s to the Heritage Book Shop; at a later date
it was bought by Angelo Cifaldi.
Emendations and textual notes:
reasonable • rea- reasonable [rewritten for clarity]
firewood • fire- | wood
