To Sir or Madam
1877–1880 • Hartford, Conn.?
(MS, draft form letter: CU-MARK, UCCL 00593)

⟦Form.⟧

————

‸(For replying to seekers after “opinions,”)
(otherwise compliments.‸

Dr Sir or Madam:

Experience has not taught me ‸very‸ much; still it has taught me that it is not wise to criticise a piece of literature, except to an enemy of the person who wrote it; then, that enem if you praise it, that enemy admires you for your honest manliness, & if you dispraise it he admires you for your sound judgment.

Ys Truly

S L C1

Explanatory Notes

Editorial Signs

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1The date and place of writing of this draft form letter have not been discovered. Presumably it was written sometime between 1877 and 1880: the ink matches a type that Clemens used for letters written during those years. So far as is known, the manuscript, which remained in his possession, was never printed.

Description of Texts and Provenance

Source text(s):

MS, draft form letter, CU-MARK.

Previous publication:

MTB, 1:506; MicroPUL, reel 8.

Provenance:

See Mark Twain Papers in Description of Provenance.