To Karl Gerhardt and Hattie J. Gerhardt
23 October 1882 • Hartford, Conn.
(MS, typewritten, from dictation: NN-BGC, UCCL 02565)
hartford conn. oct. 23d. 1882.
dear mr. & mrs. gerhardt,
i started a letter of credit for a hundred pounds to paris about three days ago, and intended to write you at the same time; but have been delayed in various ways. in fact my principal delay comes of the unfinished and apparently unfinishable condition of my book. it blocks and interferes with everything. but if in the course of time i shall succeed in completing it, i will write oftener, and endeavor to carry out my duties social and business and other kinds better than i have been doing of late. i have nothing particular to report, and this is only a sort of letter of apology anyway, for not writing the other day. mr. and mrs. warner are at home now, and they bring enthusiastic accounts of both of you, and manifestly were vastly delighted to have even the brief glimpse of you which they achieved. they were very sorry they could not see more of you and see also your work. mr. twichell continues to sing the praises of that statue from the old masters. it evidently might[i]ly impressed him. of course i do not need to say that all this is exceedingly pleasant to [us.
i] cut this short from necessity, not from [chioce]; and as i said before i am going to make up for this long interval between correspondence when i get through with this infernal book.
with abundant affection from both of us to both of you,
yours,
s. l. clemens.
Textual Commentary
Source text(s):Previous publication:
American Art Association catalog, 13–14 February 1924, lot 214, partial publication; MicroPUL, reel 2.
Provenance:
Sometime before 1939 the letter was purchased by businessman William T. H. Howe (1874–1939). In 1940 Dr. Albert A. Berg bought and donated the Howe Collection to NN.
Emendations and textual notes:
us. [¶] i • [space added to indicate new unindented paragraph; no extra space between paragraphs in MS, here and hereafter]
chioce • [sic]
