20 May 1870 • Buffalo, N.Y. (MS: Daley, UCCL 00465)
Confidential.
Appleton wants me to furnish a few lines of letter fr press for a humorous picture-book—that is, two lines of remarks under each picture. I have intimated that if the pictures & the pay are both good, I will do it. What do you think of it? I thought that inasmuch as half the public would think I made the engravings as well as did the letter-press, it would be a unique & splendid advertisements wherewith to boost the “Innocents.” I am to see proofs of the pictures before I contract. 1explanatory note
letter docketed: Mark Twain | May 20/70 | Author
Bliss objected to this proposal from D. Appleton and Company, of New York, eventually leading Clemens to end the “picture-book” negotiations (23–26 June 70 to Appleton; 4 July 70 to Blissclick to open link).
MS, collection of Robert Daley until 1993.
L4 , 131–132; MTLP , 35.
The MS evidently remained among the American Publishing Company’s files until it was sold (and may have been at that time copied by Dana Ayer; see Brownell Collection in Description of Provenance). An Ayer handwritten transcription and a typed transcription are at WU. Sold in 1993 to an unidentified purchaser (Sotheby 1993, lot 214).
More information on provenance may be found in Description of Provenanceclick to open link.