細節
CLEMENS, Samuel Langhorne. Autograph letter signed to Karl Gerhardt and his wife, Hartford, Conn., 21 November 1881. 4 pages, 8o, in blue ink on rectos of four sheets of laid paper, a few slight smudges.
"['THE PRINCE AND THE PAUPER'] ISSUES IN CANADA, ENGLAND & GERMANY" Karl Gerhardt was a sculptor whose career Clemens fostered (they met in Hartford in early 1881). The artist did a portrait bust of Clemens which was photographed and used as a frontispiece in the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1885). Twain writes: "The medallion of Mr. [Charles Dudley?] Warner arrived, all right, shortly after I wrote you, but I have been pretty busy since & have neglected letter-writing to a considerable extent. I thought it a good portrait & that the work on it was fine; but I did not think it quite as palpable a likeness as was the one you made of me before you went away (Mrs. Clemens' opinion & mine agreed). But when Mr. and Mrs. George Warner came in to look at the medallion, they exclaimed over it as being an excellent likeness & fine in every way. You may be sure we were very glad of that, for we think a great deal of their critical judgment in matters of art..."
"Jean [his infant daughter] is pulling through a fortnight's spell of sickness which disturbed us some nights & one or two days. She seems to be all right again, nearly; & is mightly spiteful -- a good sign...I go to Montreal, Canada, four days hence, to remain a couple of weeks -- while my book [The Prince and the Pauper] issues in Canada, England & Germany, & thus secure copyright. Have to go alone -- Mrs. Clemens can't leave Jean..."
"['THE PRINCE AND THE PAUPER'] ISSUES IN CANADA, ENGLAND & GERMANY" Karl Gerhardt was a sculptor whose career Clemens fostered (they met in Hartford in early 1881). The artist did a portrait bust of Clemens which was photographed and used as a frontispiece in the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1885). Twain writes: "The medallion of Mr. [Charles Dudley?] Warner arrived, all right, shortly after I wrote you, but I have been pretty busy since & have neglected letter-writing to a considerable extent. I thought it a good portrait & that the work on it was fine; but I did not think it quite as palpable a likeness as was the one you made of me before you went away (Mrs. Clemens' opinion & mine agreed). But when Mr. and Mrs. George Warner came in to look at the medallion, they exclaimed over it as being an excellent likeness & fine in every way. You may be sure we were very glad of that, for we think a great deal of their critical judgment in matters of art..."
"Jean [his infant daughter] is pulling through a fortnight's spell of sickness which disturbed us some nights & one or two days. She seems to be all right again, nearly; & is mightly spiteful -- a good sign...I go to Montreal, Canada, four days hence, to remain a couple of weeks -- while my book [The Prince and the Pauper] issues in Canada, England & Germany, & thus secure copyright. Have to go alone -- Mrs. Clemens can't leave Jean..."