15 December 1873 • London, England (MS: Jacobs, UCCL 01006)
Dec. 15.
You have better things to think of & to do, & so I do not expect you to come to a lecture of mine—but still I wanted to send you the enclosed, (you to fill the blanks) just as I might say to any man, “What you have done has been a benefit, a pleasure, a luxury to me, & so what I am trying to t do now is only homage, & therefore ought not to be offensive.” 1explanatory note
But ⒶemendationI never would have ventured to do this thing, but that I saw my friend Moncure D. Conway last night & he said, “Do it—he probably won’t come, but it’s an inoffensive way of expressing your a body’s appreciation—therefore do it.”
Ad AndⒶemendation so, with all respect, I “do it.” 2
Mark Twain.
Clemens enclosed a complimentary ticket to his lecture, apparently valid for any date, which does not survive. For Tennyson’s response, see 16 Dec 73 to OLC, n. 3click to open link.
MS, collection of Victor and Irene Murr Jacobs, on deposit at Roesch Library, University of Dayton, Dayton, Ohio (ODaU).
L5 , 519; Sotheby 1980, lot 363, facsimile of pages 3 and 4.
The Jacobses purchased the MS from Sotheby’s in 1980; they deposited their collection at ODaU in 1984.
More information on provenance may be found in Description of Provenanceclick to open link.