Mark Twain's private life revealed in memoirs to be auctioned
Famous author was distraught over death of his eldest daughter
Anita Singh, The Daily Telegraph: The private life of Mark Twain is described in vivid detail in an unpublished memoir that contains a moving tribute to his lost daughter.
The author was distraught when Olivia "Susy" Clemens, his eldest and favourite daughter, died of spinal meningitis in 1896, aged 24.
"She was a magazine of feelings, and; they were of all kinds and; of all shades of force," he wrote in the newly unearthed collection. "In all things she was intense: in her this characteristic was not a mere glow, dispensing warmth, but a consuming fire."
The tribute is contained in A Family Sketch, a 64-page, handwritten document that offers an "intimate record" of life in the Twain household. It is among 200 manuscripts, letters and photographs to be auctioned at Sotheby's in New York on June 17.
Also included is a heartfelt nine-page letter in which Twain wrote to his prospective father-in-law, Jervis Langdon, offering a list of character references and insisting that he was excellent husband material.
Twain had fallen in love with Langdon's daughter, Olivia. "I am not hurrying my love, it is my love hurrying me," he wrote. Setting out his plans for the future - Twain was then working as a newspaper journalist - he added: "As to what I am going to be, henceforth, it is a thing which must be proven and; established. I am upon the right path - I shall succeed, I hope. Men as lost as I have found a Savior, and; why not I?"
The letter, signed in his real name of Sam L Clemens, was written in 1868. Eight years later, Twain published The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, followed by Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.
The letter is estimated to fetch $30,000-$50,000 (Cdn). A Family Sketch carries an estimate of $120,000-$180,000 (Cdn).
The collection could raise up to $1.2-million (Cdn), according to Sotheby's. It is being offered by the family of the late James S Copley, a media executive who built up a library of historic manuscripts. Bidders will include the University of California, which has the largest repository of Twain material.
David Hirst, the general editor of the collection, said the tribute to Susy was the most prized lot. "A Family Sketch is certainly one of the gems of the Sotheby's sale. Any Mark Twain archive or collector would be willing to go hungry for two or three years just in order to be able to buy it," he said.
In one vignette, the abolitionist Twain describes a visit to his publisher accompanied by his butler, George Griffin. The sight of a white man and a black man together was "a new spectacle" to the assembled clerks, he wrote. "The glance embarrassed George, but not me, for the companionship was proper; in some ways he was my equal, in some others my superior . . . "
Wednesday was the centenary of the author's death.
Famous author was distraught over death of his eldest daughter
Anita Singh, The Daily Telegraph: The private life of Mark Twain is described in vivid detail in an unpublished memoir that contains a moving tribute to his lost daughter.
The author was distraught when Olivia "Susy" Clemens, his eldest and favourite daughter, died of spinal meningitis in 1896, aged 24.
"She was a magazine of feelings, and; they were of all kinds and; of all shades of force," he wrote in the newly unearthed collection. "In all things she was intense: in her this characteristic was not a mere glow, dispensing warmth, but a consuming fire."
The tribute is contained in A Family Sketch, a 64-page, handwritten document that offers an "intimate record" of life in the Twain household. It is among 200 manuscripts, letters and photographs to be auctioned at Sotheby's in New York on June 17.
Also included is a heartfelt nine-page letter in which Twain wrote to his prospective father-in-law, Jervis Langdon, offering a list of character references and insisting that he was excellent husband material.
Twain had fallen in love with Langdon's daughter, Olivia. "I am not hurrying my love, it is my love hurrying me," he wrote. Setting out his plans for the future - Twain was then working as a newspaper journalist - he added: "As to what I am going to be, henceforth, it is a thing which must be proven and; established. I am upon the right path - I shall succeed, I hope. Men as lost as I have found a Savior, and; why not I?"
The letter, signed in his real name of Sam L Clemens, was written in 1868. Eight years later, Twain published The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, followed by Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.
The letter is estimated to fetch $30,000-$50,000 (Cdn). A Family Sketch carries an estimate of $120,000-$180,000 (Cdn).
The collection could raise up to $1.2-million (Cdn), according to Sotheby's. It is being offered by the family of the late James S Copley, a media executive who built up a library of historic manuscripts. Bidders will include the University of California, which has the largest repository of Twain material.
David Hirst, the general editor of the collection, said the tribute to Susy was the most prized lot. "A Family Sketch is certainly one of the gems of the Sotheby's sale. Any Mark Twain archive or collector would be willing to go hungry for two or three years just in order to be able to buy it," he said.
In one vignette, the abolitionist Twain describes a visit to his publisher accompanied by his butler, George Griffin. The sight of a white man and a black man together was "a new spectacle" to the assembled clerks, he wrote. "The glance embarrassed George, but not me, for the companionship was proper; in some ways he was my equal, in some others my superior . . . "
Wednesday was the centenary of the author's death.
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