Auction Date:2010 Jan 13 @ 10:00 (UTC-05:00 : EST/CDT)
Location:5 Rt 101A Suite 5, Amherst, New Hampshire, 03031, United States
ALS signed “S. L. Clemens,” two pages on adjoining sheets, 3.75 x 6, Villa Viviani letterhead, March 20, 1893. Letter to Mrs. [Janet] Ross. In full: “It was my purpose to run in & indulge my great pleasure in the society of Sir William & my Lady a little more & I count it a loss that I failed of the chance; but my time has all been taken up in clearing the decks for America. I shall go over & pay my dinner-call the moment I get back from America. This seems unprompt; but I have a trained conscience, & I quiet it by telling it I am on my road to pay it now, merely going by the way of New York and Chicago for the sake of variety, & because it is much more creditable to go 8,000 miles to pay a dinner-call than it is to go a mere matter of 600 yards. Auf wiedersehen.” Suede matted and framed to an overall size of 13.5 x 11.5; there are two hooks along the top edge of this frame for hanging on its larger display of a double suede matted and framed portrait and biographical plaque, which measures 29 x 23. In fine condition, with a bit of scattered light toning and soiling.
Ross was the daughter of translator and travel writer Lady Duff Gordon. In her book, The Fourth Generation, Ross wrote of meeting Clemens, who was living in Italy at the time. In part, she noted, “Our friend Professor Fiske, who lived near Fiesole, brought a delightful man to see us, Mr. Clemens, better known as Mark Twain. We at once made friends. The more we saw of him the more we liked the kindly, shrewd, amusing, and quaint man.” Two days after writing this letter, Clemens departed Genoa, Italy, headed for the United States onboard the Kaiser Wilhelm II. Not surprisingly, the author had made a great deal of money through his works—and lost much of it due to poor investments. This 1893 visit to the US, in part to meet with financier Henry Huttleston Rogers, coupled with his ongoing literary work and lectures, enabled him to financially recover.
Auction Location:
5 Rt 101A Suite 5, Amherst, New Hampshire, 03031, United States
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