New Mark Twain Letters—Again
Peter Hanff ("Meet Me at the Fair") mentioned Kimo Campbell's recent generosity in helping acquire two hitherto unknown letters by Mark Twain. One cannot say too much about Kimo's sharp eyes, let alone his generosity, so we thought the Friends might like to see one of the letters he spotted for us. Clemens dated it simply "September 6" but the year was certainly 1900, when he and his family rented Dollis Hill House in Willesden, just outside metropolitan London. (The mourning border was for their daughter Susy, who had died on August 18, 1896.) One of the striking things about this letter is the way it helps us piece together the puzzle of Clemens's life at the time. Even now we scarcely know who Stanley W. Ball was. But the letter itself (as well as the "Duplicate" which Clemens says he lost on the way to the "train station" that morning!) declined an invitation to speak at the opening of a new reading room at Kensal Rise, part of Willesden's public libraries. Although Clemens says he will "not be able to assist" them, the "Chairman & Vice Chairman" of the Kensal Rise Library Committee must have changed his mind, for he did in fact speak at the opening on September 27. Stanley W. Ball and "Mr. A. Dunn" are identified in the official program as having given to the library some "36 Photographs of local views." Arthur Dunn was the local photographer who took the photographs, about which Clemens said, on September 20, "I have not seen finer photographs than those six pictures of Dollis Hill & the family." Copies of the photographs are in the Mark Twain Papers, and we are—thanks to Kimo Campbell's help—a little further along in understanding their context and the circumstances of Mark Twain's speech at Kensal Rise.
—Robert H. Hirst
General Editor, Mark Twain Project
Volume 119
Fall 2001
Table of Contents
History 7B: Undergrads Explore Bancroft Collections
The Annual Meeting of the Friends
Librarians Celebrate Oral History Series
New Mark Twain Letters — Again
The Bancroft Library Donors 2000-2001
