to Ainsworth R. Spofford
21 April 1873 • Hartford, Conn. (MS: DLC, UCCL 00904)
Enclosed please find title-page, which please enter in our names, as per to-day’s letter, enclosing fees, &c.2explanatory note
Chas. D. Warner.
Ainsworth R. Spofford had been the librarian of Congress since 1864; he and Clemens may have become acquainted in Washington during the winter of 1867–68 ( L4 , 207 n. 1).
Clemens’s other letter “enclosing fees” is not known to survive, nor is the title page that he enclosed here. Spofford filled in and returned the following (CU-MARK):
library of congress,
copyright office, washington.
no 4299 d.
to wit: be it remembered,
that on the 23d day of April anno domini 187 3
Samuel L. Clemens of
Hartford Conn. ha s deposited in this office the title of a
Book the title or description of
which is in the following words, to wit:
The Gilded Age.
A Tale of To-day
By Mark Twain (Sam’ ℓ L Clemens.) and Chas. Dudley Warner.
Hartford:
1873.
the right whereof he claim s as Authors & Proprietors
in conformity with the laws of the united states respecting copyrights.
A R Spofford
librarian of congress.
MS, Papers of Ainsworth Rand Spofford, Library of Congress (DLC).
L5 , 350–351.
The Papers of Ainsworth Rand Spofford were donated to DLC between 1923 and 1982 by Barbara Spofford Morgan.
More information on provenance may be found in Description of Provenanceclick to open link.