To Orion Clemens
2 September 1870 • Buffalo, N.Y.
(Transcript and MS: MTL, 1:175, and CU-MARK, UCCL 00499)

[Buf., 1870. ]

[Dear Bro: ]

[I ]find that your little memorandum book is going to be ever so much use to me, [& ]will enable me to make quite a coherent narrative of the Plains journey instead of slurring it over & jumping 2,000 miles at a stride. The book I am writing will sell.1 In return for the use of the little memorandum book I shall take the greatest pleasure in forwarding to you the third $1,000 which the publisher of the forthcoming work sends me—or the first $1,000, I am not particular—they will both be in the first quarterly statement of account from the publisher.2

[In ]great haste,

Yr Obliged Bro.

[Sam].

Love to Mollie. We are all getting along tolerably well.

Orion Clemens Esq | 1227 Chesnut [st. ] | St. Louis, [Mo. ] [across envelope end:] Leave it in Mellon’s hands but give him 25 per cent—can you never get that necessity before your face?3 [postmarked:] buffalo n.y. sep 3

Explanatory Notes | Textual Commentary

Editorial Signs

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1 Clemens had received the memorandum book by 27 July, at which time he expected to begin writing what became Roughing It in “about a month” (27 July 70 to JLC and PAM). His letters of 2 September to Fairbanks and 4 September to Bliss indicate that he began as planned and completed drafts of the first four chapters, which were clearly dependent on the memorandum book, between 28 August and 2 September. It is therefore apparent that he wrote the present letter on 2 September and sent it in the envelope postmarked 3 September. The letter itself survives, however, only in Albert Bigelow Paine’s transcription, which lacks a clear date. The memorandum book itself has not survived (see RI 1993, 769–77).

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2 Clemens’s gratitude helped inspire Orion to send additional material for the western book (11 Nov 70 to OC).

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3 See 1 Aug 70 to OC.

Description of Texts and Provenance

Source text(s):

A transcript in MTL, 1:175, is copy-text for the letter; MS, Mark Twain Papers, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley (CU-MARK), is copy-text for the envelope. The rationale for emendations to remove MTL styling is given in Description of Texts.

Previous publication: L4, 186–187.

Provenance:The letter MS is not known to survive; for the envelope, see Mark Twain Papers in Description of Provenance.

Emendations and textual notes:

Buf., 1870. • Buf., 1870.

[no ¶] Dear Bro: • [¶] Dear Bro.,—

[¶] I • [no ¶] I

& • and [also at 186.21]

[¶] In • [complimentary close position] In

Sam • Sam

st. • s[] [torn]

Mo. • [] [torn]