7? February–30? April 1870 • Buffalo, N.Y. (AAA 1914, lot 72, UCCL 02794)
Master Jno. H. Bancroft—Yes Sir, if so small a matter can confer a favor upon “a schoolboy” I am the very man to do it.1explanatory note
Mark TwainⒶemendation
This letter is assigned arbitrarily to the earliest likely period in 1870 when Clemens was in Buffalo, but he might have written it there in any of five later periods: 10 or 11 May–6 June; 12–22 June; 12? August–1? October; 9? October–9? December; or 17–31 December. The request for an autograph may have come from John H. Bancroft (1856?–1936) who later became controller of the American Sugar Refining Company (“Aged Jersey Couple Die 3 Hours Apart,” New York Times, 12 June 1936, 23).
AAA 1914, lot 72, which describes the letter as “Clemens (Samuel L.—American humorist). A.N.S. 1p. 12mo. Buffalo, 1870. Signed with his correct name and his pseudonym.”
L4 , 63–64.