![CLEMENS, Samuel Langhorne. Autograph manuscript of Chapter 48 ("In Milan") of A Tramp Abroad. N.p., n.d. [1879-80]. 39 pages, 8vo, about 2700 words, written in different shades of dark ink on rectos only of sheets of laid paper, with numerous revisions by Twain (including readable deletions) and some marginal pencil notes, the leaves paginated 2052 to 2090 by him in ink, and the chapter number changed by him in pencil from "59" to "48"; tipped onto 8vo leaves and bound together, the first leaf mounted (before being tipped in) and with soiling and a few marginal chips, several other leaves with some smudges and finger-soiling, a few leaves with slight marginal tears or chipping, bound with a portrait of Twain in red morocco gilt, t.e.g. (joints and ends of spine a little worn).](https://www.christies.com/img/LotImages/1999/NYR/1999_NYR_09312_0143_000(122858).jpg?w=1)
Details
CLEMENS, Samuel Langhorne. Autograph manuscript of Chapter 48 ("In Milan") of A Tramp Abroad. N.p., n.d. [1879-80]. 39 pages, 8vo, about 2700 words, written in different shades of dark ink on rectos only of sheets of laid paper, with numerous revisions by Twain (including readable deletions) and some marginal pencil notes, the leaves paginated 2052 to 2090 by him in ink, and the chapter number changed by him in pencil from "59" to "48"; tipped onto 8vo leaves and bound together, the first leaf mounted (before being tipped in) and with soiling and a few marginal chips, several other leaves with some smudges and finger-soiling, a few leaves with slight marginal tears or chipping, bound with a portrait of Twain in red morocco gilt, t.e.g. (joints and ends of spine a little worn).
THE "TRAMP" IN MILAN
A Tramp Abroad (Hartford, 1880), the third of Clemens' five travel books, is an account of his nearly 17 months of journeying in Europe (1878-79) cast in the form of a burlesque walking tour through Germany, Switzerland, France, and Italy. This manuscript corresponds to pages 354-362 in the current Penguin Books edition (New York, 1997) of the work. In Chapter 48, one of the last in the book, the narrator (Twain's persona) visits the great cathedral, the Galleria, and the various tourist attractions in Milan. Most of the chapter is devoted to a discussion of art (and a few particular paintings) and what the narrator has learned: "...We visited the picture galleries and other regulation 'sights'...not because I wanted to write about them again, but to see if I had learned anything in twelve years. I afterwards visited the great galleries of Rome and Florence for the same purpose. I found I had learned one thing. When I wrote about the Old Masters before [in The Innocents Abroad, 1869], I said the copies were better than the originals. That was a mistake of large dimensions. The Old Masters were still unpleasing to me, but they were truly divine contrasted with the copies...There is a mellow richness, a subdued color, in the old pictures...It was generally conceded by the artists with whom I talked, that the subdued splendor, that mellow richness, is imparted to the picture by age. Then why should we worship the Old Masters for it, who didn't impart it, instead of worshiping Old Time, who did...?"
THE "TRAMP" IN MILAN
A Tramp Abroad (Hartford, 1880), the third of Clemens' five travel books, is an account of his nearly 17 months of journeying in Europe (1878-79) cast in the form of a burlesque walking tour through Germany, Switzerland, France, and Italy. This manuscript corresponds to pages 354-362 in the current Penguin Books edition (New York, 1997) of the work. In Chapter 48, one of the last in the book, the narrator (Twain's persona) visits the great cathedral, the Galleria, and the various tourist attractions in Milan. Most of the chapter is devoted to a discussion of art (and a few particular paintings) and what the narrator has learned: "...We visited the picture galleries and other regulation 'sights'...not because I wanted to write about them again, but to see if I had learned anything in twelve years. I afterwards visited the great galleries of Rome and Florence for the same purpose. I found I had learned one thing. When I wrote about the Old Masters before [in The Innocents Abroad, 1869], I said the copies were better than the originals. That was a mistake of large dimensions. The Old Masters were still unpleasing to me, but they were truly divine contrasted with the copies...There is a mellow richness, a subdued color, in the old pictures...It was generally conceded by the artists with whom I talked, that the subdued splendor, that mellow richness, is imparted to the picture by age. Then why should we worship the Old Masters for it, who didn't impart it, instead of worshiping Old Time, who did...?"