To
Elisha Bliss, Jr.
22 July 1869 • Elmira, N.Y.
(MS, damage emended, and transcript:
Cooper and CtY-BR, UCCL 00327)
Elmira, July 22.
Mr Bliss, are you not making a mistake about publishing this year? The book was to have been ready peremptorily just a year ago, exactly. Then, as it was necessary to make room & a market for Grant’s biography, it was judged much better to delay this book of mine a month or two. Then, to harass ‸be up with‸ a rival publisher [ & damage ] ‸& make capital out of‸ a rival book, it was thought best to make a spring book of mine, in order to give the “Metropolis” a chance. And then, in order once more to fight a rival book & a rival house, it was considered best to make mine a summer book & give the “Mississippi” a fresh boost. And now that the further delay of my book will encourage agents to continue to labor for the “Mississippi” (I only just barely suppose this from hearing you tell a new agent he could have my book when issued if he would work on the “Mississippi” until that vague & uncertain event [transpired],) it is deemed best ‸to‸ [hold it back ] & make a fall [book of it.]
Do not [misunderstand. ] I am not complaining. I am not contending that there is any a occasion for you to comply with that portion of a contract which stipulates that the book shall be issued “early in the spring.” I am not pretending that there [is ]a community of interest here which would make it improper for you to take the liberty & the responsibility of departing from the letter of a contract in order to subserve your interest, without first inquiring, for form’s sake whether it will be satisfactory all round—or whether it will be equally profitable all round. I am not contending that I am hurt unto death simply because the delay for “Grant” damaged my interests,; or that ‸because‸ the delay for the “[Metropoliss ],” damaged my interests likewise; or because the delay necessary to make me a spring vegetable damaged my interests; or because the delay in order [to] open up the “Mississippi” again damaged my interests; or because the further delay to bail the “Mississippi[”] dry is still damaging my interests. No. All I want to know is,—viz:—to-wit—as follows:
After it is done being a fall book, upon what argument shall you perceive that it will be best to make a winter book of it? And—
After it is done being a winter book, upon what argument shall you perceive that it will be best to make another spring book of it again? And—
When it is done being another spring book again, upon what argument shall you perceive that it will be best to—to—to—1
Are you going to publish it before Junius Henri Brown’s entir t Travels in Italy & Germany, or after?2
All I desire is to be informed from time to time what future season of the year [the publication ] is postponed to, & why—so that I can go on informing my friends intelligently—I mean that infatuated baker’s dozen of them who, faithful unto death, still believe that I am going to publish a book.
But seriously, I object to any further delay, & hereby enter my protest against it. These delays are too one-sided. Every one of them has had for its object the furthering of the Am. Pub. Co.’s interest, & to compass this, my interests have been entirely [disregarded ]. We both know what figure the sales were expected to reach if due & proper diligence were exerted in behalf of the publication. If that result is not achieved shall you be prepared to show that your tardiness was not the cause?—& sh failing this, shall you be prepared to recompense me for the damage sustained? These are grave questions. I have ceased to expect a large sale for a book whose success depended in a great measure upon its publication while the public were as yet interested in its subject,3 but I shall feel entirely justified in holding the Publishing Company responsible in case the sales fall [short ‸or‸ ] reasonably short of [what ] we originally expected them to reach.
I think you will do me the justice to say that I have borne these annoying & damaging [delays ] as patiently as any man [with ] bread & butter & [reputation ] at stake could have [borne ] them. I cannot think [I have ] been treated just right.
Yrs Truly
Saml. L. Clemens.
[P. S. I am sorry ] to add to your [woes—I know ] you have your full [complement, anyhow ]—but [ consider that remember ] that my share [may be cut short ], or even threatened [by the delays.] 4
Explanatory Notes | Textual Commentary
After completing three months of proofreading on 5 June, and having acquiesced in previous postponements,
Clemens expected to promptly receive bound copies of his book. The announcement that its publication was again delayed
therefore struck him as just another in a series of deliberate obstructions, including Bliss’s 1868 publication of
Albert Deane Richardson’s A Personal History of Ulysses S. Grant and his 1869 publication of
Richardson’s Beyond the Mississippi (revised edition) and Junius Henri Browne’s
The Great Metropolis: A Mirror of New York (14 May 69 to OLL; 4 June 69 to Fairbanks; L2, 163 n. 5, 169–70, 217, 239 n. 2, 257, 421–22). For Bliss’s responses to
Clemens’s charges, see 1 Aug 69 and 12 Aug 69 to Bliss, nn. 1.
Source text(s):Previous publication:
L3, 284–86; AAA 1924, lot 65, excerpts; MTLP, 22–24, with omission.
Provenance:The MS, accompanied by a typewritten transcript, was sold in 1924 (AAA
1924, lot 65) and again in 1925 (Dawson’s Book Shop,
lot 112). Thereafter, probably during the 1930s, it was acquired by Sadie Lydia Marshall Cooper, grandmother of the present
owner, Jack F. Cooper. Two distinct transcriptions of the letter in Dana Ayer’s hand exist, both lacking the
postscript. The first, at CtY-BR, was evidently made directly from the
MS. The second, now at WU, derives from the first, as does a typescript, also at WU. See Brownell Collection, pp.
581–82.
Emendations and textual notes:
The MS consists of 9 torn half-sheets of flimsy wove paper, inscribed on one side only. Pages 2 and 9 are badly damaged, with
several words, characters, and punctuation marks wholly or partly missing. See below for illustrations of the damaged pages,
editorially reconstructed.
Letter of 22 July 1869 to Elisha Bliss, Jr. MS page 9, with missing words editorially
reconstructed. Courtesy of Jack F. Cooper.
& damage • [false ascenders/descenders]
transpired (Ayer) • transp[ir]ed [torn]
hold it back (Ayer) •
h[
k]
[torn]
book of it. (Ayer) •
b[ ]
[torn]
misunderstand. (Ayer) •
mi[]
[torn]
is • [is] is [torn during inscription]
Metropoliss • [‘s’ partly formed]
the publication • the the publication [corrected miswriting]
disregarded • [doubtful ‘l disregarded’]
short ‸or‸ (Ayer) •
[s ]
[torn]
what (Ayer) •
[w]
[torn]
delays • dlel delays
with •
[th]
[torn]; whose (Ayer)
reputation (Ayer) •
repu-|
[tin]
[torn]
borne (Ayer) •
[]
[torn]
I have •
[ ]
[torn]; that I have (Ayer)
P. S. I am sorry •
[ ]orry [torn]
woes—I know •
[ w]
[torn]
complement, anyhow •
[
n]yhow [torn]
consider that remember •
consid-
|
[◇◇ ◇◇◇◇
m]ber [torn]
may be cut short •
[
]ort [torn]
by the delays. •
[
]
[torn]
Samuel Clemens •
[S]a[muel Clems]
[torn]
