Clemens, Samuel L.

Three autograph letters to the editor of Century Magazine, Richard Watson Gilder.



Autograph letter signed ("S. L. Clemens"), 2 pages, Hartford, 31 January 1887, asking Gilder if he wants "a powerful readable short article (about 5,000 words at a rough guess?)"; whether he will pay a higher rate for it, and if he wants it for the March issue. — Autograph letter signed ("Mark"), 2 pages bifolium, Villa Viviani, Settignano, Florence, Italy, 19 October [1892], stating that most of what he's written has been sold to syndicates because they pay better than magazines but encloses a copy of "The £1,000,000 Bank Note" for his consideration; light browning and staining, 2 minor fold separations. — Autograph letter signed ("Mark"), 3 pages, Kaltenleutgeben, near Vienna, 7 May 1898, reminiscing about the amount of money various magazines paid him for articles and stories and that he had been paid the same rate as Oliver Wendell Holmes was for "The Autocrat" by the Atlantic; browned, one short fold tear.  

Clemens's relationship with Richard Watson Gilder began when he approached the author over the summer of 1884 for the serialization rights to Huckleberry Finn, to which Clemens agreed in September. Watson was the visionary editor of the Century Magazine (named after the Century Club, of which he was a member). He piloted the magazine away from romantic sentiment and into the uncharted waters of science, religion, political trends, travel, architecture, education, and law, but its greatest contribution was in the realm of  belles lettres. Circulation of the magazine soon reached 180,000, eclipsing the readership of the Atlantic.