Photographs and Manuscript Facsimiles,
1853–1866
Reproduced here are two dozen contemporary images—photographs, engravings from photographs, an oil painting, and one printed document—chiefly of Clemens’s immediate family, friends, or close associates during the period of these letters. Several of the photographs have not been published before.
Immediately following these documents are photographic facsimiles of nine complete letters in Clemens’s holograph, a representative selection. We reproduce these documents partly for their inherent interest, and partly to afford the reader a chance to see for himself what details of the original the transcription includes, and how, as well as what it omits. Because of the imperfect nature of facsimiles, close comparison with the transcription will almost certainly turn up apparent discrepancies between the two. The textual commentaries for all nine letters therefore undertake to resolve such differences and to give a full physical description of the original document.
Samuel L. Clemens, 1851 or 1852. Copy in the Mark Twain Papers, The Bancroft Library (CU-MARK).
1858. Courtesy of Vassar College Library (NPV).
1863. Mark Twain Papers, The Bancroft Library (CU-MARK).
1865 or 1866. Mark Twain Papers, The Bancroft Library (CU-MARK).
Samuel L. Clemens’s Pilot’s Certificate, awarded 9 April 1859. Courtesy of Mariners’ Museum, Newport News, Virginia (ViNeM).
Jane Lampton Clemens, 1858 or 1859, portrait by St. Louis artist Edwin Brady. Courtesy of Vassar College Library (NPV).
Henry Clemens, 1858. Courtesy of Vassar College Library (NPV).
Pamela A. Moffett, probably early 1860s. Courtesy of Mrs. Kate Gilmore and Mark Twain Museum, Hannibal, Missouri (MoHM).
William A. Moffett, probably 1864 or 1865. Courtesy of Vassar College Library (NPV).
Samuel E. Moffett and Annie E. Moffett, probably 1863. Courtesy of Vassar College Library (NPV).
Orion Clemens, early 1860s. Courtesy of Nevada State Historical Society (NvHi).
Mary E. (Mollie) Clemens, 1866. Courtesy of Nevada State Historical Society (NvHi).
Jennie Clemens, probably 1863. Courtesy of Nevada State Historical Society (NvHi).
Laura Wright, May 1861. Mark Twain Papers, The Bancroft Library (CU-MARK), gift of Mrs. Helen Jackson.
Samuel A. Bowen, ?1860. Courtesy of Mark Twain Museum, Hannibal, Missouri (MoHM).
Robert M. Howland, 1861. Mark Twain Papers, The Bancroft Library (CU-MARK), courtesy of Mr. and Mrs. Robert M. Gunn.
James W. Nye, probably 1862. Signature evidently not Nye’s. The Bancroft Library (CU-BANC).
William Wright (Dan De Quille), 1864. Signed and dated by Wright. The Bancroft Library (CU-BANC).
Joseph T. Goodman, ?1863 (Mack 1947, facing 193).
Charles Farrar Browne (Artemus Ward), mid-1860s, engraving from a photograph (Charles Farrar Browne, frontispiece).
Bret Harte, probably 1870. The Bancroft Library (CU-BANC).
Daniel Martin (Martin the Wizard), 1864. Courtesy of Doten Collection, University Library, University of Nevada Reno (NvU).
Kamehameha V, king of the Hawaiian Islands, 1865. Courtesy of Hawaii State Archives, Honolulu.
Anson Burlingame, 1868, engraving from a photograph (Eclectic Magazine 71 [September 1868]: facing 1037). Courtesy of New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundations (NN).
Clemens to Pamela A. Moffett, 8 October 1853, New York, New York. Mark Twain Papers, The Bancroft Library (CU-MARK). The oldest surviving document in Clemens’s handwriting, the letter consists of four unnumbered pages on two leaves of a folded sheet, silked and patched to prevent further damage. Transcribed on pp. 16–17 (UCCL 00001).
Manuscript page 2, to Pamela A. Moffett, 8 October 1853. Verso of the first leaf.
Manuscript page 3, to Pamela A. Moffett, 8 October 1853. Recto of the second leaf.
Manuscript page 4, to Pamela A. Moffett, 8 October 1853. Verso of the second leaf.
Clemens to Mary E. (Mollie) Clemens, 18 June 1858, Memphis, Tennessee. Mark Twain Papers, The Bancroft Library (CU-MARK). The letter consists of three unnumbered pages on two leaves of a folded sheet. Transcribed on pp. 80–82 (UCCL 00016).
Manuscript page 2, to Mary E. Clemens, 18 June 1858. Verso of the first leaf.
Manuscript page 3, to Mary E. Clemens, 18 June 1858. Recto of the second leaf; verso blank.
Clemens to Orion and Mary E. (Mollie) Clemens, 20 June 1863, San Francisco, California. Mark Twain Papers, The Bancroft Library (CU-MARK). The letter is written on the unnumbered recto and verso of a leaf torn from a folded sheet. Transcribed on p. 258 (UCCL 00068).
Manuscript page 2, to Orion and Mary E. Clemens, 20 June 1863. Verso.
Clemens to Jane Lampton Clemens and Pamela A. Moffett, 18 July 1863, Virginia City, Nevada Territory. Mark Twain Papers, The Bancroft Library (CU-MARK). The letter is written on two leaves of a folded sheet using only the first and fourth pages, both unnumbered. Transcribed on pp. 259–60 (UCCL 00069).
Manuscript page 2, to Jane Lampton Clemens and Pamela A. Moffett, 18 July 1863. The signature is the oldest known private use of Clemens’s pen name. Verso of the second leaf.
Clemens to Jane Lampton Clemens and Pamela A. Moffett, 5 August 1863, Virginia City, Nevada Territory. Mark Twain Papers, The Bancroft Library (CU-MARK). The letter is written on two leaves of a folded sheet using only the first and fourth pages, both unnumbered. Transcribed on pp. 261–62 (UCCL 00070).
Manuscript page 2, to Jane Lampton Clemens and Pamela A. Moffett, 5 August 1863. Verso of the second leaf.
Clemens to Orion and Mary E. (Mollie) Clemens, 25 May 1864, Virginia City, Nevada Territory. Mark Twain Papers, The Bancroft Library (CU-MARK). The letter consists of three unnumbered pages on two leaves of a folded sheet. Transcribed on pp. 297–98 (UCCL 00081).
Manuscript page 2, to Orion and Mary E. Clemens, 25 May 1864. Verso of the first leaf.
Manuscript page 3, to Orion and Mary E. Clemens, 25 May 1864. Recto of the second leaf; verso blank except for an address probably in Orion’s hand (see the textual commentary).
Clemens to William Wright (Dan De Quille), 15 July 1864, San Francisco, California. William Wright Papers, The Bancroft Library (CU-BANC). The letter consists of six pages written on both sides of three leaves torn from folded sheets, repaired along the crease where the paper had torn. Transcribed on pp. 303–4 (UCCL 00084).
Manuscript page 2, to William Wright, 15 July 1864. Verso of the first leaf.
Manuscript page 3, to William Wright, 15 July 1864. Recto of the second leaf.
Manuscript page 4, to William Wright, 15 July 1864. Verso of the second leaf.
Manuscript page 5, to William Wright, 15 July 1864. Recto of the third leaf.
Manuscript page 6, to William Wright, 15 July 1864. Verso of the third leaf.
Clemens to Orion and Mary E. (Mollie) Clemens, 19 and 20 October 1865, San Francisco, California. Mark Twain Papers, The Bancroft Library (CU-MARK). The letter consists of five pages written on four leaves torn from folded sheets. The first three leaves, with writing on rectos only, are repaired with stiff paper backing. The fourth leaf, badly damaged, is unrepaired: although Clemens originally inscribed only the recto, he added to the verso after folding the letter for mailing. Transcribed on pp. 322–24 (UCCL 00092).
Manuscript page 2, to Orion and Mary E. Clemens, 19 and 20 October 1865. Recto of the second leaf.
Manuscript page 3, to Orion and Mary E. Clemens, 19 and 20 October 1865. Recto of the third leaf.
Manuscript page 4, to Orion and Mary E. Clemens, 19 and 20 October 1865. Recto of the fourth leaf.
Manuscript page 5, to Orion and Mary E. Clemens, 19 and 20 October 1865. Verso of the fourth leaf; only the inscribed portion reproduced.
Clemens to Isabella A. Cotton, 4 December 1866, San Francisco, California. Mark Twain Papers, The Bancroft Library (CU-MARK). The letter is written on the recto of one leaf, mounted on a stiff paper backing and partially trimmed. Transcribed on p. 371 (UCCL 00113).
