Clemens wrote this letter on a scrap of paper attached to the enclosed schedule from Raymond, which lists bookings of the Gilded Age play for the upcoming 1875–76 season. The dating of the letter is highly conjectural, and is based in part on the evidence of the schedule itself (see note 3). It is likely that Clemens received the schedule with the following letter (CtHMTH), which answered an unrecovered telegram he probably sent to his agent, H. W. Bergen, on 23 August:

Clemens presumably forwarded the schedule to Perkins, his lawyer, on 24 or 25 August. He then telegraphed Bergen, asking for copies of Raymond’s contracts with the theaters, and evidently made another request regarding money. Raymond answered these unrecovered telegrams (CU-MARK):

The figures on the schedule apparently represented expenses—firm, in the case of New York and Philadelphia, and round-figure estimates for the other cities. Clemens and Raymond were to divide the net proceeds from ticket sales, so it is not surprising that Clemens questioned such high expense figures. Doubtless they included supporting actors’ salaries and theater rental. In most cases Clemens’s “share” was one-half (the same as for the 1874–75 season), but where other percentages were specified (in Cleveland, for example), the larger portion was probably Raymond’s. This trend continued: during the 1877–78 season Raymond received two-thirds of the profits. Many, but not all, of the engagements have been confirmed. After his run in New York ended on 2 October (see the next note), Raymond appeared at Wood’s Theater, Cincinnati, during the weeks of 18 and 25 October; at the Globe Theatre, Boston, during the weeks of 8 and 15 November; at the Brooklyn Theatre during the week of 22 November; at the Varieties Theatre, New Orleans, during the weeks of 31 January and 7 February 1876; and at McVicker’s Theatre, Chicago, during the weeks of 21 and 28 February (Raymond to SLC, 25 Sept 76, CtHMTH; Odell, 10:20–21, 121; “Amusements,” Cincinnati Enquirer, 18 Oct 75, 30 Oct 75, 5; “Amusements,” Boston Globe, 8 Nov 75, 17 Nov 75, 1; “Colonel Sellers in Brooklyn,” New York Evening Post, 24 Nov 75, 3; “Amusements,” New Orleans Picayune, 1 Feb 76, 6 Feb 76, 1; “Amusements,” Chicago Tribune, 21 Feb 76, 28 Feb 76, 7).

Raymond opened the Union Square Theatre’s “preliminary season” in New York on 16 August. When he wrote this letter, the length of his engagement was apparently not yet confirmed—he was to appear until at least 25 September (six weeks) and, if attendance remained high, for an additional week. The extension of the play (an “overwhelming success,” according to the advertisements) for a seventh week was not announced until 19 September. The “regular” season began on 4 October with Dion Boucicault’s Led Astray, in which Marie Gordon—Raymond’s wife—was to appear, instead of accompanying her husband on the road (New York Times: “Amusements,” 16 Aug 75, 7; 18 Sept 75, 9; 19 Sept 75, 11; New York Evening Post: “Music and the Drama,” 24 Sept 75, 4). Raymond expected his 1875–76 tour to be lucrative. On 2 November the Boston Globe reported:

This inserted comment and the one at 527.5–8 may be in Bergen’s hand. John Thomson Ford (1829–94) had been the manager of the Holliday Street Theatre in Baltimore since 1854 and built the Grand Opera House there in 1871. He built three theaters in Washington, including Ford’s Theatre (which he owned at the time of Lincoln’s assassination there in 1865), and also managed a number of traveling companies.

Neither this asterisk, nor the one below at 527.8, has been explained. This one might have been made by Raymond, but the asterisk below appears to be part of the insertion. Any notes they might have referred to have not survived.

Henry Eugene Abbey (1846–96) was an impresario and theatrical manager who began his career in Akron, Ohio, and earned recognition for bringing high-quality entertainment to areas outside of large cities. He later managed the Park Theatre and the Metropolitan Opera House, in New York (Odell, 10:212).