To Ainsworth R. Spofford
18 July 1877 • Hartford, Conn.
(MS: DLC, UCCL 12308)

‸ One dollar enclosed. ‸

Elmira, N. Y.
July 178, /77.

Sir: I, Saml. L. Clemens (Mark Twain), am the author of a Light Tragedy entitled “Cap’n Simon Wheeler the Amateur Detective,” the which I desire to copyright. To this end I enclose a printed copy of the title-page for deposit in your office.1

Ys Truly

Samℓ. L. Clemens

Of Hartford, Conn.

Explanatory Notes

Editorial Signs

Click to add citation to My Citations.

1Clemens sent this copyright application to Spofford, the Librarian of Congress, not from Elmira, but from Hartford, where he was still at home on the morning of 18 July. He must have given his return address as Elmira because he expected to be there to receive Spofford’s reply. The copyright was registered on 20 July (certificate in Scrapbook 10:21, CU-MARK). The title page he enclosed with this letter, printed at the head of a synopsis on a single sheet of galley proof, is reprinted in the Appendix “Enclosures with the Letters.”

Description of Texts and Provenance

Source text(s):

MS, Papers of Ainsworth Rand Spofford, DLC.

Previous publication:

MicroPUL, reel 1.

Provenance:

The Spofford Papers were acquired by DLC between 1923 and 1982, primarily as a donation from Barbara Spofford Morgan.