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Add to My Citations To Mary F. Foster
19 July 1875 • Hartford, Conn.
(Transcript and paraphrase: Parke-Bernet 1963,
lot 34, and two others, UCCL 09485)
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[ figure slc em spaceem spaceem spaceem spaceem spaceem spaceem spaceem spaceem spaceem spaceem spaceem spaceem spaceem spacefarmington avenue, hartford.

]

[July 19, 1875.

]

[paraphrase: [The dated note . . . is addressed to “Dear Madam”, thanking her for a ][ticket, which he unfortunately will not be able to use.]] [I send copies of my books for the Library ] [& hope your enterprise will meet with a generous success.] 1

. . . .

[S. L. Clemens ]

Explanatory Notes | Textual Commentary

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1 The addressee’s name is provided by the 1 January 1876 statement of Clemens’s account with the American Publishing Company, which indicates that on 20 July 1875 a “Set of books” bound in cloth was ordered for Foster (not further identified), at a cost of $3.60 plus $1.00 for “Express on same” (APC 1876). Included were The Innocents Abroad, Roughing It, and The Gilded Age.



glyphglyphSource text(s):glyph
No copy-text. The text is based on three transcripts and paraphrases, each of which derives independently from the MS:
P1 Parke-Bernet 1963, lot 34
P2 Parke-Bernet 1964, lot 37
P3 Sotheby 1974, lot 85
Each catalog contains quoted or paraphrased text, or descriptive information, not present in the others. None of the texts is complete, however. P2 describes the letter as “1½ pp., 8vo,” and P3 describes it as “2 pp. 12mo,” whereas the surviving text would certainly have fit on a single page.

glyphglyphPrevious publication:glyph L6, 514.

glyphglyphEmendations, adopted readings, and textual notes:glyph

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

Each catalog contains quoted or paraphrased text, or descriptive information, not present in the others. None of the texts is complete, however. P2 describes the letter as “1½ pp., 8vo,” and P3 describes it as “2 pp. 12mo,” whereas the surviving text would certainly have fit on a single page.

Adopted readings followed by ‘(C)’ are editorial emendations of the source readings.


figure slc farmington avenue, hartford. (C) • Farmington Avenue, Hartford (P3); on embossed paper (P1); Hartford (P2)

July 19, 1875. (C) • 19 July, 1875. (P1); 19 July 1875 (P2, P3)

The dated . . . for a (P1) • Mark Twain thanks “Dear Madam” for a (P2); to an unknown correspondent, thanking her for a (P3)

ticket, . . . use. (P2) • ticket [reported, not quoted] (P1, P3)

I send . . . Library (P1) • and sending copies of “. . . my books for the Library” (P2); [not in] (P3)

& hope . . . success. (P1) • he hopes the enterprise will be very successful. (P2); and wishing her luck in a future enterprise. (P3)

S. L. Clemens (P1) • [not in] (P2, P3)