(Clemens, Samuel L., and others)

Album comprised of sheets mounted on guards (13 1/2 x 9 1/2 in.; 343 x 241mm).  25 signed letters (24 autograph, 2 typed) mounted on sheets, most with envelopes by 23 notable individuals of the period, with biographical articles and portraits also mounted in the album. Brown morocco by MacDonald, spine gilt-lettered, Covers with gilt borders, upper cover with red morocco heart-shaped inlay, edges gilt, red moiré silk liners; minor wear and rubbing.

Condition as described in catalogue entry.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

A fine cache of presumably unpublished letters written in support of New York's Hebrew Infant Asylum, including two outstanding letters by Samuel L. Clemens.  Included are letters by William McKinley (TLS), Oliver Wendell Holmes, Grover Cleveland, Samuel L. Clemens  (2 ALSs, both apparently sent in the same envelope), Edward Everett Hale, Brander Matthews, Isaac Zangwell, William Dean Howells, George Washington Cable (2 ALSs), Jules Verne, F. Marion Crawford, Thomas Bailey Aldrich, Louise Chandler Moulton, Mary E. Wilkins, John Watson, Ella Wheeler Wilcox, Richard Watson Gilder, Frederic W. Farrar, Donald G. Mitchell, Margaret Deland, Max Nordau, Charles Dudley Warner, and John Clark Ridpath.

While most of these letters congratulate the Hebrew Infant Asylum on its good work, Clemens uses his letters (4 pages, Riverdale 17 December 1901) to discuss infant mortality rates in New York and elsewhere. discussing the very high mortality rate at the Infants Home on Blackwell's Island (900 in a thousand), Clemens remarks, "InGod's name why do they not bury those poor little creatures a soon as they are received in that hospitable hell & so save them some part of their sufferings? After comparing the home to the Black Hole of Calcutta, he writes, "and now you tell me—in contract with this devilish showing—that the death-rate in your Hebrew Infant Asylum is only 40 in the thousand! Oh, be good, be kind, be generous—take our little Christians in there & save them from the bitter misery & temporal damnation of governmental Christian charity! Oh, save their lives & send them missionarying to China to spread our darling "Civilization," which we think so of. When we are drunk."  In the second letter, Clemens asks Jules Hart to strike the words "when we are drunk" from the letter if he prints it.