1 Like the previous two pages of lecture manuscript that Clemens mailed, this page was originally written in black ink (faded to brown), then revised in pencil: the insertion of the page number “58,” the deletion of “88,” and the insertion of “like” were all in pencil, as were the two lines striking through the entire page. Although the paper stock is different from the previous two pages, it has the same dimensions as those and a dozen others from the same manuscript, now in the Mark Twain Papers (SLC 1866). None of the immediately surrounding pages is known to survive, but it is apparent that Clemens was describing Kilauea volcano, a well-known highlight of his lecture from its very first performance in San Francisco. The date of Clemens’s letter is again uncertain, but see the next note.

2 The year was 1866, not 1867. Clemens’s error may mean that some time had passed since he wrote the two previous letters, in both of which he correctly dated his lecture.