1Clemens wrote this inscription in a copy of The National Ode: The Memorial Freedom Poem by Bayard Taylor (1825–78). The book, with numerous illustrations by various artists, was issued in early December by William F. Gill and Company. Taylor was a poet, novelist, translator, and diplomat, whom Clemens had probably first met in 1872 (23 Feb 1872 to Redpath, L5, 47–48 n. 1). According to the “Publishers’ Note” in the volume, Taylor had written the poem for “the celebration of the one hundredth anniversary of the birth of American Independence, held within the shadow of Independence Hall, July 4th, 1876. Its delivery by the author was the crowning success of the memorable exercises of this eventful day” (Taylor 1877, 5). Clemens may have given the book to his wife as a Christmas gift. In late January 1877 he purchased an additional copy through James R. Osgood and Company, who sold other publishers’ books as well as their own (BAL, 8:19807; “Bought of James R. Osgood & Co.,” receipt for Clemens’s book purchases, 20 Jan–24 Oct 1877, Scrapbook 10:69, CU-MARK).