To John Bellows
11 April 1883 • Hartford, Conn.
(Sales catalog with partial MS facsimile: Sotheby’s, London, 8 July 2004, lot 140, UCCL 12883)
140 [CLEMENS, S. L.] “MARK TWAIN.” Autograph letter signed as both “mark twain” and “s. l. clemens”
[To] John Bellows, responding to his “note” sent to Twain’s publisher, expressing how glad he would be to receive a copy of Bellows’s “book” [his French-English Dictionary] (“. . . for Mrs. Clemens will not allow me to keep hers in my study, & somebody long ago stole my own copy—our pastor, I think; who was probably beguiled by its pious aspect . . .”); he asks why he and other authorities ignore the terms “nom de plume” and “nom de guerre” (“. . . I think you do—can’t go to the bedroom to look, because then I should have to explain why I am sitting up enjoying myself so [late to-night; & I would rather tell seven lies than make one explanation.
Faithfully Yours
Mark Twain
née S. L. Clemens.]
3 pages, 8vo, autograph envelope, Hartford, Connecticut, 11 April 1883.
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