31 August and 1 September 1880 • Elmira, N.Y. (Sales catalog: G. A. Baker and Co., 24 October 1939,
no. 33, lot 54a, UCCL 01828)
54a. CLEMENS (S. L.) Autograph Letter, signed, 7 pages, 12mo. Quarry Farm, near Elmira, August 31, (1880)
**This letter was written while Twain was working on the final chapters of “The Prince and the Pauper.”
“Tell David I wrote the first half of the climax chapter of ‘The Little Prince and the Little Pauper’Ⓐemendation three days ago. Another week’s work will finish that book. It would be nearly finished now, but I was stopped by an ear-ache. The story will contain only two thirds as much matter as Tom Sawyer, unless I change my mind and elaborate one portion of it a little more than I have done—but that would be at the expense of the dramatic strength and I judge I won’t do it.”
Twain also refers at length to the arrival of his third daughter, Jean, and to the two other children, Susy and Clara.
The last page of the letter is a postscript, dated September 1.
G. A. Baker and Co. catalog, 24 October 1939, no. 33, lot 54a.
Parke-Bernet catalog, 7 December 1954, no. 1556, lot 23, paraphrase; MicroPUL, reel 1.