To Henry Abbey
21 August 1869 • Buffalo, N.Y.
(MS: Axelrod, UCCL 00337)

buffalo, Aug. 21 186 9.

Dear Sir—Yes, I have a pleasant remembrance of our ride, & would like to repeat it. And I remember promising to lecture for you, too, in case I lectured any of any consequence next winter—at least I suppose I remember it—& I know believe I promised Crane to lecture for him under the same conditions, though I am not sure about that, for it would have been absurd to make two engagements so close together as your two towns.1

But circumstances have altered things greatly. I was under contract to make a [ w ] New England tour next winter, but I have been obliged to write there & ask to be excused. I have bought into this paper, & business will compel me to stick to my post. If my promise was a positive one I hope you will be merciful to a fellow journalistic sinner & let me off for this time.

I see you had a notion to le have me lecture on my wedding day! (Jan. 10.,)—but this is strictly private & you must not mention it.

Ys Sincerely

Samℓ. L. Clemens.

Explanatory Notes | Textual Commentary

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1 Henry Abbey (1842–1911) of Kingston, New York, a former journalist, was a flour and grain merchant and by 1869 had published the first three of his dozen volumes of poetry (Clearwater, 545–46). Clemens must have met him in late 1868, when he met Henry M. Crane, of nearby Rondout, which eventually was incorporated into Kingston (see the next letter).

Description of Texts and Provenance

Source text(s):

MS, collection of Todd M. Axelrod.

Previous publication: L3, 314–315; Freeman 1947, lot 337, brief quotations.

Provenance:Sold in 1947 by Samuel T. Freeman and Company of Philadelphia (Freeman 1947, lot 337), the MS was acquired before March 1975 by Noel J. Cortés. It was again sold in 1982 by Maurice F. Neville Rare Books, and acquired by Todd M. Axelrod.

Emendations and textual notes:

w • [partly formed]