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Add to My Citations To James Redpath
13 February 1872 • Hartford, Conn.
(Will M. Clemens, 28; Libbie, lot 62; AAA 1926, lot 132, UCCL 00726)
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[ [Hartford,] Feb. 13].

. . . .

If you could get that N. Y. Tribune notice of my lecture copied in full into one or two of the biggest Boston papers it would be the next best thing to achieving a Boston [triumph].1

. . . .

[Success] to Fall’s carbuncle [&] many happy returns.

. . . .

Mark

Explanatory Notes | Textual Commentary

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1 For the New York Tribune review by John Hay, see 26 Jan 72 to Redpath. When Clemens lectured in Boston the previous November, he got a warm reception from his audience but only a tepid one from the press, and therefore felt he had not had a “Boston triumph” (L4, 484–85). If Redpath succeeded in having Hay’s notice reprinted in some Boston paper, it was neither the Evening Transcript nor the Advertiser. Redpath may have been preparing the next issue of the Lyceum Magazine (dated July, but available in June), which included both a list of lecturers available and “Lyceum Circulars” for more than thirty of them. Circulars consisted very largely of quotations from press notices. No circular for Mark Twain was included, but he was listed with two lecture subjects (“Roughing It” and a “New lecture, not yet named”), even though Redpath explained that “Mr. Clemens has not decided yet whether he shall enter the field this season or not. We shall be able to announce in July his decision to correspondents who apply for him” (Lyceum 1872, 5).



glyphglyphSource text(s):glyph
No copy-text. The text is based on three fragmentary transcriptions, each of which derives independently from the MS:
P1 Will M. Clemens, 28
P2 Libbie, lot 62
P3 AAA 1926, lot 132
The independence of P1 is assured by its date of publication (1900), although it contains only one sentence, ‘Success . . . returns.’ (45.7), mistakenly included with the text of 10 July 71 to Redpath (the MS of that letter does not contain the sentence). According to both P2 and P3, the MS consists of four pages, octavo. P2 does not identify the addressee but describes the letter as “regarding a lecturing tour”; P3 describes it as “To Redpath, referring to ‘Mark’s’ lecture tour.”

glyphglyphPrevious publication:glyph L5, 45–46.

glyphglyphProvenance:glyphThe MS may have been owned (or merely borrowed) by Will Clemens before he published it in 1900. When sold in 1905 (Libbie), it was part of the collection of Arthur Mason Knapp, custodian of Bates Hall, Boston Public Library.

glyphglyphEmendations, adopted readings, and textual notes:glyph

No copy-text. The text is based on three fragmentary transcriptions, each of which derives independently from the MS:

The independence of P1 is assured by its date of publication (1900), although it contains only one sentence, ‘Success . . . returns.’ (45.7), mistakenly included with the text of 10 July 71 to Redpath (the MS of that letter does not contain the sentence). According to both P2 and P3, the MS consists of four pages, octavo. P2 does not identify the addressee but describes the letter as “regarding a lecturing tour”; P3 describes it as “To Redpath, referring to ‘Mark’s’ lecture tour.”


Hartford . . . Boston (P2, P3) • [not in] (P1)

Hartford, Feb. 13. (C) • Hartford, Feb. 13, 1872 (P2); Hartford, Feb. 13 [1872] [reported, not quoted] (P3)

triumph. (P2) • success (P3); [not in] (P2)

Success . . . returns. (P1) • Success . . . returns, (P3); [not in] (P2)

& (P3) • and (P1)