Olivia L. and Samuel L. Clemens
to Alice E. Kingsbury
3 or 4 May 1876 • (MS facsimile, photograph: 19th Century Rare Book & Photograph Shop catalog 160:117, UCCL 13266)
to Alice E. Kingsbury
3 or 4 May 1876 • (MS facsimile, photograph: 19th Century Rare Book & Photograph Shop catalog 160:117, UCCL 13266)
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on the back:
For Miss Alice1explanatory note
With the kind regards of
Livy L. ClemensⒶemendation
isaac white,
no. 15 pratt st.,
hartford,
conn.
See vague portrait of the father in right hand corner, Miss Alice. I was behind the curtain holding the children’s heads & not purposing to be a part of the group2explanatory note
Explanatory Notes
1 Alice Eliza Kingsbury (1858–1937) was a daughter of Frederick J. Kingsbury
(1823–1910), a prominent banker and lawyer in Waterbury, Connecticut. Alice later
wrote an undated reminiscence of her visits to the Clemenses’ home, in which she
recorded her impressions of Clemens’s character, relationship with Olivia, and
writing habits (19th Century Rare Book & Photograph Shop catalog 160:117). No
text of it was available to the editors.
2 This letter was probably written shortly before the one of 5 May 1876 to
Conway, in which Clemens also reported that he was “holding the children’s heads.”
It may have been a birthday gift for Alice, who turned eighteen on 4 May.
MS facsimile, cabinet card photograph, 19th Century Rare Book & Photograph Shop online catalog 160:17, accessed 4 September 2015.
Offered for sale in Bonhams and Butterfields catalog, sale of 24 June 2008, lot 112.
More information on provenance may be found in Description of Provenanceclick to open link.