541. Clemens (Samuel L.) Autograph Letter Signed, S. L. Clemens, 2pp. 8vo, Hartford, Dec. 12, 1882. To [Julian] Hawthorne. Written on one side only of two sheets.

A very Important Literary Letter regarding the copyright law of Canada, which he states encourages piracy, also makes mention of Henry Ward Beecher and Jeff. Davis, the President of the Confederate States of America. The letter reads in part,—

Osgood & I went to Canada & did all that could be done without false swearing & failed to secure copyright. A foreigner may swear he is a resident—I think that’s the term—& get a copyright. Some foreigners have done it, it is said—Beecher, Jeff Davis, et al—but if this is so, they could not have known what a very serious definition the law (not the dictionary) gives to that term. Mind, the Canadian law was made, distinctly & professedly, to encourage piracy; & therefore this one fact is clear: that no foreigner can get a copyright there by honest means. . . . An American book issued in England one day before it is issued in America is by that act equipped with thorough & indestructible English copyright. . .