All the names were correct, I think, except Masserano. JamⒶemendation the Queen of Greece in anywhere. SheⒶemendation
is the daughter of the Emperor of Russia,Ⓐemendation
& can stand itⒶemendation.
No—put her in the Grecian chapter—that will be better.2explanatory note
You will find
Scylla & CharybdisⒶemendation mentioned
beforeⒶemendation you come to Athens—perhaps the cut you speak of comes in there. (If it is a picture
of the AcropolisⒶemendation, though, put it in along with the description of the Acropolis in the chapterⒶemendation on Greece.)Ⓐemendation3explanatory note
None. The text is based on four transcripts. Tr1 apparently derived directly from
the MS. Although both the original typescript and its carbon survive, typed underscores
struck below the ribbon on the original and show up on the carbon only. Albert Bigelow
Paine must have had the letter transcribed before 1912, when he published an excerpt
in MTB, 1:380, and in Paine 1912, 944 (‘Your printers . . . hurry the proofs’), but neither the MS nor the transcript
was available to him five years later (MTL, 1:157). P1, however, which published the dateline, signature, and three excerpts
(‘the Queen of Greece’, ‘is the daughter. . . stand it’, and ‘I think . . . but foolish’),
was independently based on the MS, which had fallen into private hands by 1938 (see
Provenance). The identical text was republished with no changes in Parke-Bernet 1941. Tr2 and P2 each derived independently from transcripts of the MS made by Dana Ayer.
Tr2, a typescript made by Bernard DeVoto from Ayer’s transcript, was made in 1942
while the transcript was still in Brownell’s possession. P2 apparently derived independently
from the Ayer transcript after the Brownell Collection had moved to WU-MU.
See Paine Transcripts in Description of Provenanceclick to open link. The MS evidently remained among the American Publishing Company's records until
it was first sold (and probably at that time was copied by Dana Ayer; see Brownell Collection in Description of Provenanceclick to open link). The MS was eventually acquired by William Randolph Hearst, who sold it in 1938,
presumably to Harold Fisher, who in turn sold it in 1941 (Parke-Bernet, 16–17 November
1938, no. 63 [Part 1], lot 47; Parke-Bernet, 15–16 January 1941, no. 248, lot 87).
Explanatory Notes
0 The present text, notes, and apparatus supersede those previously published in L3,
187–88. L3’s version is available hereclick to open link.
1 The date conjectured for this letter depends upon Clemens’s first sentence, which
alludes to his listing of famous men, including the Prince of Masserano (Carlo Emanuele
Ferrero La Marmora, 1788–1854), in chapter 15 (page 140) of The Innocents Abroad. Clemens had evidently corrected a misspelling of “Masserano.” In response, Bliss
appears to have requested confirmation, which the present letter provides, that the
other names were correct. Clemens finished his proofreading of chapters 15–17 (pages
139–70) by 3 April (Saturday), for he noted in his copy of Holmes’s Autocrat: “April 2—midnight—Livy and I read 18 pages of proof—Versailles and Genoa [chapters
16 and 17]” (PH in CU-MARK, in Booth 1950, 459). He probably mailed these chapters back to Bliss on 5 April (Monday). If Bliss
received them two days later and replied on the following day (8 April)—enclosing
the next batch of proof as well (chapters 18–22, pages 171–227)—then Clemens probably
received his letter and wrote this response on Saturday, 10 April. It is unlikely
that this exchange took less time, and it cannot have taken more, since it clearly
was completed before 12 April, when Clemens replied to yet another question from Bliss
about chapter 16.
2 The former Olga Konstantinovna Romanov (1851–1926) had been the wife of Christian
William Ferdinand Adolphus George (1845–1913), King George I of Greece, since 1867.
She was the daughter of Grand Duke Konstantin Nikolaevich Romanov (1827–92), the younger
brother of Aleksandr Nikolaevich Romanov (1818–81), Tsar Aleksandr II. Her portrait
eventually appeared, as Clemens here decided, in chapter 33 (page 355) of The Innocents Abroad. Bliss’s questions about where to place this and other illustrations do not signify
that Clemens had received proofs for these later chapters. The process of inserting
electrotyped engravings in the standing type necessarily preceded, by several days,
at least, the generation of author’s proofs.
3 “View of the Acropolis, Looking West” appears in chapter 32 of Innocents, the first of the two chapters partly devoted to Greece. It follows the “Oracle’s”
confusion of Scylla and Charbydis with Sodom and Gomorrah and precedes Mark Twain’s
night visit to the Acropolis.
4 The “suppositions” accounted comically for the presence of oyster shells in the hills
above Smyrna. Probably in early March, when he went over his manuscript for the last
time, Clemens “marked them out” in a clipping from the 21 November 1867 San Francisco
Alta California that he used as part of his printer’s copy for chapter 39 (SLC 1867; Hill 1964, 28; Hirst 1975, 234). The passage was restored to that chapter (pages 414–15), as Bliss requested.
Emendations and Textual Notes
All variants among the source texts are reported below. Adopted readings followed
by ‘(MTP)’ are editorial emendations of the source readings.
Ⓐ Elmira, April Something, 1869. (#Tr1, #Tr2, #P2) ● Elmira, April Something, 1869. reported, not quoted
(#P1)
None. The text is based on four transcripts. Tr1 apparently derived directly from the MS. Although both the original typescript and its carbon survive, typed underscores struck below the ribbon on the original and show up on the carbon only. Albert Bigelow Paine must have had the letter transcribed before 1912, when he published an excerpt in MTB, 1:380, and in Paine 1912, 944 (‘Your printers . . . hurry the proofs’), but neither the MS nor the transcript was available to him five years later (MTL, 1:157). P1, however, which published the dateline, signature, and three excerpts (‘the Queen of Greece’, ‘is the daughter. . . stand it’, and ‘I think . . . but foolish’), was independently based on the MS, which had fallen into private hands by 1938 (see Provenance). The identical text was republished with no changes in Parke-Bernet 1941. Tr2 and P2 each derived independently from transcripts of the MS made by Dana Ayer. Tr2, a typescript made by Bernard DeVoto from Ayer’s transcript, was made in 1942 while the transcript was still in Brownell’s possession. P2 apparently derived independently from the Ayer transcript after the Brownell Collection had moved to WU-MU.
See Copy-text; MTLP, 20–21; McBride 1984, 365, partial publication; L3, 187–88.
See Paine Transcripts in Description of Provenanceclick to open link. The MS evidently remained among the American Publishing Company's records until it was first sold (and probably at that time was copied by Dana Ayer; see Brownell Collection in Description of Provenanceclick to open link). The MS was eventually acquired by William Randolph Hearst, who sold it in 1938, presumably to Harold Fisher, who in turn sold it in 1941 (Parke-Bernet, 16–17 November 1938, no. 63 [Part 1], lot 47; Parke-Bernet, 15–16 January 1941, no. 248, lot 87).