TWAIN MARK Autograph Letter Signed SL Clemens to My dear Mr

Sale 2461 - Lot 274

Price Realized: $ 1,375

?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price

Estimate: $ 2,000 - $ 3,000

TWAIN, MARK. Autograph Letter Signed, "SL Clemens," to "My dear Mr. West," suggesting that his comments would have been more effective if directed to his local press, and acknowledging that his own object would have been better served if he had thought to recommend that others do the same. 1 page, 8vo, moderate uneven toning overall, horizontal folds. "Ampersand" [Harrietstown, NY] , 27 August [1901]

Set Alert for Similar Items

Additional Details

". . . [I]f you & the 1207 others who wrote me, had said the same things in their local press, (no signature required) think of the hundreds & thousands of converts that vast wave of mere honest simple confession[s] of faith would have made! And how it would have upheld my hands--& what authority it would have given to my mouth! Whereas I got only kicks & never had a friend--apparently.
"I was sure I had friends somewhere; & if I had had the wit to suggest the above course I believe they would have been prompt to show up & stand by me. It was my own fault that in my hands the cause didn't fare better."
In the summer of 1901, Twain rented a cottage on Lake Saranac in Harrietstown, NY, where he vacationed with his wife and daughters. During his stay, Twain wrote a novella, A Double-Barrelled Detective Story, published in 1902, and an essay, "The United States of Lyncherdom," which was not published until after his death and which captures his reaction to an article about a Lynching that had taken place in Missouri that summer, on August 19.