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Sale 66
Lot 180
Clemens, Samuel (1835-1910) American author and humorist; his nom de plume was Mark Twain. Autograph Manuscript, one page, 7¾ x 5 inches, n.d. (1870). With an original pen and ink drawing by Twain on the verso depicting a caricature of a German soldier. Both the manuscript and the sketch are in purple ink. A working manuscript with many corrections in his hand, of an essay which appeared in the December 1870 issue of The Galaxy, a magazine founded by Col. William C. Church and his brother Francis in 1866. It was titled in the magazine, "Memoranda. by Mark Twain. 'History Repeats Itself'." Many of Twain's early writings appeared in this magazine. William Church, with George Wood Wingate established the National Rifle Association in 1871.
The manuscript is partially complete and has the number "27" at the top. Twain has taken a fictitious article supposedly published in a Hawaiian newspaper quoting a man who, based on his mother's life teachings, abstained from tobacco, gambling, and liquor, and compared it to his own grandmother's words of advice. A copy of the entire essay is included.
This manuscript reads, "…[Put up] those wicked cards this minute! - two pair & a jack, you numskull ["fool" crossed out], & the other fellow's got a flush! I never have gambled from that day to this ["with" crossed out] never once without a 'cold deck' in my pocket. I cannot even tell who is going to lose in games that are being played, unless I dealt myself. ["She admonished me, too, against" crossed out]. When I was ["four crossed out] two years of age she asked me not to drink & then I made a resolution of total abstinence. That I have adhered to it & have enjoyed the ["benefit of it comfort" crossed out] beneficent effects of it through all time, I owe to my grandmother--let these tears attest my gratitude. I have never ["tasted a dro" crossed out] drank a drop from that day to this, of any kind of water. #"
As for the sketch of the German soldier, the Franco-Prussian War was going on (1870-71) and Paris was under siege. Twain's rendering of a large-nosed, squinty-eyed German soldier with enormous muttonchops may even have been his attempt to depict Bismarck.
Estimated Value $6,500 - 8,500
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| Realized $5,100 |
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