Description:

Clemens Samuel 1835 - 1910 Mark Twain pays H.W. Bergen to make a copy of his manuscript of "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer" Partly Printed Check Signed "Saml. L. Clemens," 7.5" x 2.75", rough left edge. Hartford, Ct., July 13, 1875. Check No. 172. Filled out by Clemens, drawn on the First National Bank of Hartford for $700, payable to H.W. Bergen, endorsed on verso, "H.W. Bergen." Light folds. Fine condition.

On July 5, 1875, Mark Twain wrote to his friend William Dean Howells, author, literary critic and editor of "The Atlantic Monthly," in part, "I have finished the story & didn't take the chap beyond boyhood … I wish you would promise to read the MS of Tom Sawyer some time, & see if you don't really decide that I am right in closing with him as a boy…" On July 13, 1875, he again wrote Howells, in Cambridge, in part, "I telegraphed my theatrical agent to come here & carry off the MS & copy it…" H.W. Bergen, who traveled on tour with actor John T. Raymond in Clemens' play "Colonel Sellers," and kept a record of the proceeds and expenses of his performances, was hired by Clemens to make a copy of the Tom Sawyer manuscript. It was not until early November, however, that Clemens gave it to Howells to review. He had already made some revisions on the Bergen copy. Letters to Howells and background from the University of California, Mark Twain Papers, The Bancroft Library, Berkeley. In the May 1876 issue of "The Atlantic Monthly," Howells reviewed "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer." The July 13, 1875, check here offered is advance payment to Bergen.

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