19 March 1876 • Hartford, Conn. (MS, in pencil: CtY-BR, UCCL 01315)
It is going to rush you too tight to do your canvassing & issue “Tom” the middle of April, isn’t it? If so, you better clap on your canvassers at once but not publish till the middle of May. In Drop me a line about this at once—for if we don’t issue in April I must telegraph Howells to delay the Atlantic notice a month.1explanatory note
letter docketed: Saml Clemens | Mch 19 ″76
Bliss’s reply is now lost, but he must have agreed to Clemens’s proposal. No telegram informing Howells has been found. Clemens may have realized that none was necessary since the April Atlantic Monthly had already issued and Howells was only now writing his review (see 13 Mar 1876 to Howellsclick to open link, n. 5) . As late as 9 April Clemens believed that Tom Sawyer would issue by the middle of May. By 16 April, however, he had decided to postpone publication until autumn, creating an embarrassment for Howells, whose review was just then appearing in the Atlantic for May. Clemens apologized to Howells in a letter of 26 Aprilclick to open link. The American Publishing Company edition of Tom Sawyer did not finally issue until December (3 Apr 1876 to Howellsclick to open link; 9 Apr 1876 to Conwayclick to open link; 16 Apr 1876 to Conwayclick to open link; TS, 22–25).
MS, in pencil, Willard S. Morse Collection, Collection of American Literature, CtY-BR.
MTLP , 95.
The Morse Collection was donated to CtY-BR in 1942 by Walter F. Frear.
More information on provenance may be found in Description of Provenanceclick to open link.