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Add to My Citations To James R. Osgood
21 January 1881 • Hartford, Conn.
(Sales catalogs: correspondence card, Parke-Bernet Galleries, 10 and 11 December 1941, no. 325, lot 114; Christie’s catalog, 5 December 1997, lot 142, UCCL 01894)
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[Jan. 21.]

em space[slc]em space[My Dear Osgood—]

[I enclose note of the inventory, which you may return to me. Maybe you can understand them—they mean little to me.] I have stricken out [the Whipping-boy’s story], & added over 130 new pages of MS to the prince’s adventures in the rural districts. The number of pages, before, was 734—the number is 870, now—fully as bulky a book as [Tom Sawyer], I think. The book is finished, but I expect to add some more pages when I make a final revision—doubtless next week.

[S. L. C.]

Textual Commentary



glyphglyphSource text(s):glyph
The text is based on two printed sources, both sales catalogs, each of which derives independently from the MS. Both catalogs indicate that the letter was laid in a copy of SLC 1881.
P1Parke-Bernet Galleries catalog, 10 and 11 December 1941, no. 325, lot 114. The letter text is in italic type, which has been silently altered to roman type in the readings reported below; ‘I enclose note . . . S.L.C.’ (1.3–10)
P2Christie’s catalog, 5 December 1997, lot 142; ‘I have stricken . . . next week.’ (1.4–9)

glyphglyphProvenance:glyph

The MS was offered for sale in 1933 by Ritter-Hopson Galleries, and in 1941 from the collection of H. Bertram Smith.

glyphglyphEmendations, adopted readings, and textual notes:glyph

All variants between the source texts are reported here. The readings identified by the siglum ‘MTP’ are editorial emendations of the source readings made because none is deemed correct by itself.


Jan. 21. (MTP) • Jan. 21, n. y. [reported, not quoted] (P1); 21 January [1881] [reported, not quoted] (P2)

slc (MTP) • written on both sides of an oblong 16mo card [reported, not quoted] (P1); on both sides of a card with Clemens's monogram printed in red [reported, not quoted] (P2)

My Dear Osgood— (MTP) • To [James R.] Osgood [reported, not quoted] (P1); to his publisher James R. Osgood [reported, not quoted] (P2)

[¶] I . . . me. (MTP) • [no ¶] I . . . me. (P1); [not in] (P2)

the Whipping-boy’s story (P1) • The Whipping-boy’s Story (P2)

Tom Sawyer (P1) • Tom Sawyer (P2)

S. L. C. (MTP) • S.L.C. (P1); [not in] (P2)