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Add to My Citations To John S. H. Fogg
11 April 1875 • Hartford, Conn.
(MS: MeHi, UCCL 00518)
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Apl. 11.

Dear Sir:1

I publish only through one house, “The American Publishing Company,” of this city. Theirs is a uniform edition.

The only good likeness of me that has been in print is one which first appeared in the London [Graphic ] & afterward (July 4, [’74 ]) in Appleton’s [Journal. ] 2

I am dear [Sir ]

Ys Sincerely

Sam. L. Clemens

Explanatory Notes | Textual Commentary

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1 This letter survives among the papers of John Samuel Hill Fogg (1826–96), a Boston physician (see the textual commentary). After polio confined him to a wheelchair in 1873, Fogg devoted himself, with the assistance of his wife, Mary, to building a manuscript collection that finally included five thousand autograph letters and documents. He made a special point of including a photograph of the writer with each letter he collected. It is very likely, therefore, that Clemens here answered an inquiry that was intended to produce a letter for Fogg’s collection as well as a photograph to accompany it (biographical information courtesy of the Maine Historical Society).

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2 The London Graphic’s “good likeness,” an engraving from a photograph taken in London by Charles Watkins, appeared on 5 October 1872. A similar, but not identical, engraving—possibly prepared from the Graphic or from a Watkins print furnished by Clemens—accompanied George T. Ferris’s biographical sketch in Appletons’ Journal for 4 July 1874. It is reproduced on p. 447 (see 22 May 74 to Bliss, n. 2, and L5, 162, 194–95 nn. 2, 6).
figure-il6022

Engraving from Appletons’ Journal (4 July 74, 16). See 11 Apr 75 to Fogg, n. 2.



glyphglyphSource text(s):glyph
MS facsimile. The editors have not seen the MS, which is in the John S. H. Fogg Autograph Collection, Maine Historical Society, Portland, Maine (MeHi). The right edge of the letter is covered in the photocopy. Three required emendations, and one questionable reading, are noted below.

glyphglyphPrevious publication:glyph L6, 445–449.

glyphglyphProvenance:glyphFogg bequeathed his extensive collection to the historical society upon his death in 1896.

glyphglyphEmendations and textual notes:glyph


Graphic • Graphi[white diamond]

’74 • ’7[white diamond]

Journal. • Journal[white diamond]

Sir • [possibly ‘Sir,’]