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Grolier Club Exhibitions

Clemens and Connecticut

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Clemens met Olivia Langdon through her brother Charles, a fellow passenger on the Quaker City in 1867. After two years of courtship, the couple married in February 1870 and moved to Hartford the following year. Clemens’s country roots initially left him at odds with genteel New England literary circles, but Twain quickly settled in and charmed his new neighbors. He would soon be a popular speaker at elite social clubs and society events.

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Samuel Langhorn Clemens. Autograph letter signed (“Samuel L. Clemens”) to Jim Gillis.
Elmira, N.Y., January 26, 1870.
 

In this letter, Clemens writes to a friend he made at Angel’s Camp in California, recalling the time they “heard that chap tell about the frog & how they filled him with shot.” But the real purpose of the letter is to invite Gillis to his impending wedding to Olivia L. Langdon, daughter of the well-to-do coal trader Jervis Langdon. In 1873, the couple settled in Hartford. 

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Photograph of Samuel and Olivia Clemens on a ship.
[N.p.], undated.
 

Clemens was introduced to his wife Olivia through her brother Charles Langdon, a fellow passenger on the steamship Quaker City in 1867. She rejected his initial proposal, but the two announced their engagement in February 1869, five months before the release of Innocents Abroad, and married the following year. 

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Stereoview of Twain’s house in Hartford, [N.p., ca. 1875].

Slate from Twain's house in Hartford, [ca. 1950s-60s].

Twain wrote many of his most famous works while living at this house at 351 Farmington Avenue in Hartford, Connecticut, from 1874 to 1891, although most of his actual writing was done during his summer stays at the Langdon family’s vacation home at Quarry Farm near Elmira, New York. The piece of original slate from Twain's Hartford house shown here was purchased by William Zachs as a child for the displayed 25 cents and gifted to Susan Jaffe Tane on the occasion of this exhibition in January 2025.

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The Hartford Blue-Book.
Hartford: The Blue Book Publishing Company/The Fowler & Miller Co., Printers, 1897. 

In the late 19th century, many American cities published “blue books” listing their most prominent residents. This first edition of Hartford’s elite directory, printed in blue ink and organized by street address, lists the Clemens family on page 25. The directory also includes brief descriptions of its most notable residents; Clemens is touted as “‘Mark Twain,’ author and humorist.” 

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[Samuel L. Clemens.] Sketches of English kings.
[Bermuda: ca. 1907-1908.]
 

Clemens was a frequent doodler. In this document, he attempts to offer a young friend assistance in remembering the reigns of English kings with this absurd series of mnemonic illustrations: Henry I’s 35-year reign is represented by a bird with 35 feathers in its tail, while Stephen’s 19 years can be remembered by picturing a foot with 19 toes. 

Henry W. and Albert A. Berg Collection of English and American Literature, The New York Public Library 

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Ignace Spiridon. Chromolithograph portrait of Mark Twain.
New York: U.S. Lithograph Company [for Shipman Brothers], 1901.
 

Based on a portrait painted by Italian artist Ignace Spiridon during Twain’s 1898 visit to Vienna, this color lithograph was produced to promote a stage adaptation of Puddn’head Wilson. Twain told publisher Frank Bliss that this portrait was “a long way the best I have ever had, and much better than any photograph from life can ever be.” 

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[Samuel Clemens, former owner]. Silk cravat. New York: E.A. Newell, [ca. 1880-1910].

Clemens’s careful attention to his image extended to his physical appearance, including his clothing. “Clothes make the man,” he quipped. “Naked people have little or no influence in society.”

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Mark Twain’s wire-framed spectacles.
[N.p.], undated. 
 

In a speech at the Banquet of the International Congress of Wheelmen held sometime around 1884, Twain commented: “It was on the 10th of May of the present year that… I confessed to age by mounting spectacles for the first time, and in the same hour I renewed my youth, to outward appearance, by mounting a bicycle for the first time. The spectacles stayed on.” 

Henry W. and Albert A. Berg Collection of English and American Literature, The New York Public Library 

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[Samuel L. Clemens.] Scoresheet for a game of hearts.
[Redding, Conn.]: June 28, 1908.
 

In 1908, Clemens constructed a new home at Redding, Connecticut, which he called “Stormfield,” where he lived and entertained until the end of his life. Headed “Innocence at Home,” this scoresheet records a game of hearts played by Clemens, his secretary Isabel Lyon, attorney Martin Littleton, and his wife Maud Littleton, during a weekend visit to Stormfield. In addition to their names, Clemens has sketched each of the players.  

Henry W. and Albert A. Berg Collection of English and American Literature, The New York Public Library 

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[Samuel L. Clemens.] “Notice to the Next Burglars.”
[Redding, Conn., September 19, 1908.]
Mounted in: [Williams, Henry.] In the Clutch of Circumstance: My Own Story. By a Burglar. New York and London: D. Appleton, 1922. 

In 1908, Stormfield was burglarized by two men who purloined Clemens’ silverware before being interrupted by secretary Isabel Lyon. The next day Twain penned this “Notice to the Next Burglars,” offering instructions to future thieves. The manuscript is mounted into a book authored by one of the burglars—Henry Williams—shortly after his release from prison, detailing his life of crime. 

Henry W. and Albert A. Berg Collection of English and American Literature, The New York Public Library 

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[Samuel L. Clemens.] “The House that Twain Built.”
[Redding, Conn.: ca. September 1908.]
 

Clemens memorialized the robbery at Stormfield with this illustrated parody of the nursery rhyme “The House that Jack Built.” He valorizes Isabel Lyon as “the Lyon that scairt the burglars that got the silver.”  

Henry W. and Albert A. Berg Collection of English and American Literature, The New York Public Library