To Charles J. Langdon
with an enclosed inscription for E. S. Bowen
20 May 1880 • Hartford, Conn.
(MS: Sotheby’s, New York, October 1996, UCCL 11964)

Hartford, May 20.

Dear Chrarley:

Does Mr. Bowen want an autograph to paste in the fly-leaf of the book? I think that is it—if so, here is a MS. page from the book itself. The correct thing to do on a special occassion is for the notorious author to write his name across a page of MS that helped to make up the book, & send that. ‸Will you forward it to Mr. Bowen?‸

Yrs

S.L.C.

[enclosure:]

157½ ‸75‸

[boxed:] ‸ No paragraph ‸

☐ “Now I’m going to tell you a perfectly true fact

about some [blue-jays].”

Chap. 8.

[centered triple rule]

‸(Made Chap. III afterwards.)‸

[double underlined:] Jim Baker’s Blue-jay Yarn.

Run to 158

[cross-written over the above:]

Ys Truly

S. L. Clemens

Mark Twain

May 20, 1880.

Textual Commentary

Editorial Signs

Description of Texts and Provenance

Source text(s):

MS, collection of Victor and Irene Murr Jacobs, seen at Sotheby’s, New York, while awaiting sale in 1996. When the letter and enclosed inscription were offered for sale, the inscription to Bowen (on an MS page from A Tramp Abroad) was laid down on the front free flyleaf of a copy of SLC 1880 and the letter to Langdon was laid down on the rear free flyleaf of the same volume.

Previous publication:Sotheby’s catalog, 29 October 1996, no. 6904, lot 216, partial publication, facsimile of the enclosure; MicroPUL, reel 1.

Emendations and textual notes:

blue-jays • blue-|jays