To H. O. Houghton and Company
12 February 1875 • Hartford, Conn.
(MS: MH-H, UCCL 01192)

Feb. 12.

Gentlemen:1

I like the whole plan except the money side of it. I do not believe there would be much money in it, & I find that trying to support a family is a thing which compels one to look at all ventures with a mercenary eye. I hope to see a day when I can publish in a way which shall please my fancy best & not mind what the banking result may be—but that time has not come yet; & so I must not venture in this attractive case & in this goodly company, though I thank you all the same for the compliment you pay me in proposing it.

Yrs Truly

Samℓ. L. Clemens

P. S. I shall not mention your plan to any one.2

[letter docketed:] Sam’l L. Clemens

Explanatory Notes | Textual Commentary

Editorial Signs

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1 Clemens answered the following letter (CU-MARK):

UCLC32104

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2 The company wrote again on 20 February, urging Clemens to reconsider, and expressing the hope that “we are not so far apart in the business as your letter might indicate” (CU-MARK). Clemens either failed to respond, or declined again in a letter not known to survive. For the relationship between Houghton and Company, Hurd and Houghton, and the Riverside Press, see 11 Dec 74 to Houghton and Company, n. 1.

Description of Texts and Provenance

Source text(s):

MS, Houghton Library, Harvard University (MH-H, shelf mark bMS Am 1925 [390]).

Previous publication: L6, 379–80; MTLP, 83; Monteiro, 9–10.

Provenance:deposited by Houghton, Mifflin Company sometime after 1943.

Emendations and textual notes:

slc • [torn away]