14 August 1869 • Buffalo, N.Y. (MS: NBuHi, UCCL 00331)
Aug. 14.
I enclose the Elmira GazettesⒶemendation report—the only one that has come to hand thus far.1explanatory note
I entered upon possession to-day & made the first payment ($15,000.)2explanatory note
I met all the Buffalo press at a press dinner this evening, & I guess they will do the book up properly when it comes to hand.3explanatory note
enclosure: 4explanatory note
Twain is some thing beside a wit—he is oft times a dealer in the purest of imagery. While he writes with an assured and certain humor, his wit sparkles brighter by a sudden seriousness unexpectedly met; it makes the humor more reliable by contrast; while the grace and beauty of the moralization charms and pleases.
Twain can write seriously as well as wittily, and though his sober thoughts are not solemnly sermon-tinged, yet their earnest grotesqueness impresses one quite as deeply and points the moral even as surely, though the standpoint of observation be not the same.
Mr. Clemens’ book is all the more relishable on this account.
He writes purely—not grossly. It is comparatively easy to be naughtily funny. Vulgarity is too often mistaken for wit. A sharp, sacrilegious expression, a startling play upon subjects, which by their very nature should be exempt from touch, are often, especially in a conversational sense, taken as evidences of acuteness. Twain has proven himself above such. His points are not objectionable—and his wit, even if it be deep some times, is creamy and rich, and does not pall. We like it because of its refinement.
Lieutenant Dale has commenced canvassing this city.5explanatory note Sold only by subscription.
letter docketed: ✓ and Mark Twin Twain Ⓐemendation | Aug 14/69
Clemens had not seen a brief notice in the Elmira Advertiser of 13 August (4):
The Innocents Abroad.
We are indebted to the Hartford Publishing Company for a copy of Mark Twain’s new work, bearing the above title. Written in the easy and pleasing style of that distinguished humorist, the book is an exception to most traveller’s journals, being not only graphic in its descriptions and reliable in its statements, but in every way eminently readable. Humor is there in no unstinted measure, and pathos is not wanting. We shall refer to the work at greater length in a few days. Sold only by subscription.
A second, somewhat longer, review appeared in the Advertiser, but not until 17 September. The reviewer explained his delay in reading the “corpulent volume,” which he pronounced “one of the most delightful books, ever published”: “We should have completed this pleasing task some time since, but for the fact that we were obliged to take our chance with half dozen others of the family” (“The Innocents Abroad,” 1). The Elmira Saturday Evening Review also was to publish two notices (see 15 Aug 69 to Bliss, n. 1click to open link).
Reportedly Clemens actively assumed his post as managing editor of the Buffalo Express on 15 August (see MTB , 1:387). John Harrison Mills (1842–1916), an artist who was on the editorial staff of the paper in 1869, later wrote: “I cannot remember that there was any delay in getting down to his work. I think within five minutes the new editor had assumed the easy look of one entirely at home, pencil in hand and a clutch of paper before him, with an air of preoccupation, as of one intent on a task delayed” (Mills). Earl D. Berry (1851–1919), then an Express reporter and subsequently city editor, recalled Clemens’s advent more dramatically:
“Is this the editorial room of The Buffalo Express?”
“It is,” responded a chorus of voices.
“Are you sure that this is the editorial room of The Buffalo Express?”
“Certainly, what can we do for you?”—and one or two chair occupants made inviting gestures for the stranger to enter the room.
There was a brief pause and then Samuel L. Clemens stepped across the threshold, and with cold and biting emphasis drawled: “Well, if this is the editorial room of The Buffalo Express I think that I ought to have a seat, for I am the editor.”
Of course, the enlightened politicians were effusive in their greetings and each one tried to express his appreciation of “Mark Twain’s little joke,” but the new editor frowned them down and made no bones of letting them know that the nature of his work made it desirable that he be alone. Mark Twain and the politicians never affiliated.
In the many years that Postmaster Almon M. Clapp controlled The Buffalo Express, the counting room and editorial room had become headquarters—or rather lounging places—for local Republican politicians. Each evening would find some of these politicians in the editorial room. Mr. Clapp did not object to their assembling there and the editorial writers bore with them patiently although they often must have interfered with work. Mr. Clemens had not met any of the politicians and not one of them had seen him up to the time of his self-introduction to them on the first evening that he undertook to do editorial work. On that occasion he found every chair in the room occupied and not one familiar face. A general smoke-fest was in progress and nobody paid any attention to the stranger who stood in the doorway. (Berry)
Clapp, founder of the Express, was twice appointed postmaster of Buffalo by Abraham Lincoln (1861, 1865), but did not hold the office in 1869. After selling his share of the Express in April of that year, he moved to Washington to accept the post of congressional printer (“John Harrison Mills,” Buffalo Enquirer, 24 Oct 1916, 2; “Earl D. Berry Dead,” New York Times, 23 Dec 1919, 9; Buffalo Directory, 44, 227; “The Government Printer,” Buffalo Express, 29 Apr 69, 2).
The host of the dinner was Elam R. Jewett (1810–87), former publisher of the Buffalo Commercial Advertiser, which printed the following report on 16 August (3):
A Pleasant Reunion.—On Saturday last a pleasant company partook of the hospitalities of Mr. E. R. Jewett, at his elegant country residence, located on what used to be known as the “Buffalo Plains,” but which is now far inside our city boundaries, and adjoining the proposed new Park. The company was largely composed of representatives of the Press of our city—of which the host is a founder—and the hours were passed in viewing the beauties of the scenery, in pleasant converse, and in partaking of an elegant repast. There are few so delightful spots about Buffalo, and none where hospitality is more gracefully dispensed.
Clemens recalled this dinner again in his letter of 3 September 1869 to Olivia Langdon (“A Veteran Journalist’s Death,” New York Times, 11 Jan 87, 5; Smith, 2:36–40).
The enclosure no longer survives. Its text is taken from the Buffalo Express of 9 October 1869 (“Advertising Supplement,” 1), which in part reprinted the Elmira Gazette review of about 12 August 1869.
George W. Dale was an Elmira book agent (“Book Agent’s Notice,” Elmira Gazette, 25 Nov 69, 4).
MS, Buffalo and Erie County Historical Society, Buffalo, N.Y. (NBuHi), is copy-text for the letter. The original enclosure, a review of The Innocents Abroad clipped from the Elmira Gazette, does not survive with the letter and no copy of the Gazette was available to the editors. Copy-text is a partial reprinting in the Buffalo Express “Advertising Supplement” (9 Oct 69, 1). It is reprinted here line-for-line from a microfilm edition of the newspaper in the Buffalo and Erie County Public Library, Buffalo, N. Y. (NBu).
L3 , 295–297; AAA/Anderson 1934, lot 134, brief excerpt; MTMF , 102, brief excerpt.
The MS was sold in 1934 as part of the collection of William L. Clements or E. W. Evans, Jr. (AAA/Anderson 1934, lot 134). By 1941, it had been acquired by Robert W. Bingham, who donated it in 1942 to NBuHi.
More information on provenance may be found in Description of Provenanceclick to open link.