21 February 1878 • Hartford, Conn. (MS: CU-MARK, UCCL 01531)

You make it appear that you are re-writing a portion of Jules Verne’s book. You will have to leave out your gorilla, your disordered compass & your trip to the interior world. Everybody would say you the ideas were Verne’s & nothing but the expansion & elaboration of them yours.
You are poaching upon Verne’s peculiar preserve, anyway, in writing
this sort of story. That is plenty far enough to go—it cannotⒶemendation be wise to meddle with any idea or situation of his. Why don’t you find Verne
himself down there? Why don’t you handle your gorilla for all
he is
worth & when you have good the
got the good of him, let the reader discover that it is Verne in
disguise. I think the world has suffered so much from that French idiot that
they could enjoy seeing him burlesqued——but I doubt if
they want to see him imitated.
You give me a most unsatisfactory idea of the story, sending it in random
snatches. Don’t do that. Send it all at once.
If you burlesque Verne, of course the more ideas of you can use his ideas as much as you choose—but not otherwise.
O. Clemens, Esq | Keokuk | Iowa
return address:
return to
| hartford, hartford co., conn., | if not delivered
within
days.
postmarked: hartfordⒶemendation conn. feb 22 1pm
MS, CU-MARK.
MicroML, reel 4.
See Mark Twain Papers in Description of Provenanceclick to open link.