Bonhams 1793 : CLEMENS (SAMUEL LANGHORNE) 'Mark Twain'. Autograph letter signed, about A Tramp Abroad, 1884

Autograph letter signed ("S. L. Clemens"), to H. Speight of Bradford, Yorkshire, answering his query about A Tramp Abroad: "No, it was at the Plow Inn, Ottenhöfen. She was a girl of about 18, the landlord's daughter. There was nothing German about her form or features or carriage; these were American decidedly – but she was German, born & bred. After several months of uninterrupted German uncomeliness, she was to me superhumanly beautiful"; with the original envelope in another hand (postmarked Elmira, New York), one page, rust-mark from pin at head, 8vo, Hartford, 8 July 1884

Sold for £1,375 inc. premium

Footnotes

'SHE WAS TO ME SUPERHUMANLY BEAUTIFUL': MARK TWAIN ON AN ENCOUNTER IN A TRAMP ABROAD. In A Tramp Abroad, the account of his European walking tour of 1878, Twain had described how he had come across, at the Hôtel du Soleil near Zermatt, a landlord's daughter he thinks 'the prettiest young creature I saw in all that region', adding: 'I remember that the only native match to her I saw in all Europe was the young daughter of the landlord of a village inn in the Black Forest' capping the anecdote by asking: 'Why don't more people in Europe marry and keep hotel?' (p.438). Earlier in the book he describes how 'We took our noon meal of fried trout one day at the Plow Inn, in a very pretty village' (p. 186). This letter was published in 2007; see the Mark Twain Project Online (UCCL 13171).

Category: Books / Books, Maps and Manuscripts

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