SAMUEL L. "MARK TWAIN" CLEMENS - AUTOGRAPH LETTER SIGNED 12/31/1901 - HFSID 31413

SAMUEL L. CLEMENS (MARK TWAIN). ALS: "S L. Clemens", 2p, 3¼x5. Riverdale on the Hudson, 1901 December 31. To Mr. Lord. In full: "I wish I could be there & help the Lotos do honor to the man whose work & fame have done so much honor to America; but I am spending that evening with the Woman's University Club. I should dearly like to be there & make love to Abbey - which is the habit of all his friends -- & let him hug to his heart once more his old ass, whom he once invited to the Royal Academy Banquet, & who didn't know enough to - to - But never mind - I shall know better another time, if it comes. It was a distinction, to be the only man that had ever done it; but there are distinctions which do not distinc satisfactorily when you come to think them over at your leisure. Truly Yours". Formed in 1870, the Lotos Club of New York is one of the oldest literary clubs in the United States. The name, from Tennyson's poem, "The Lotos Eaters", was selected to convey "rest and harmony". Charles S. Lord was Secretary of the Lotus Club. The Lotus Club honored American painter and illustrator Edwin Austin Abbey (1852-1911) on Saturday evening, January 11, 1902. "Harper's Weekly" staff illustrator since 1871, Abbey had painted the panels for the Boston Public Library, illustrating the Quest of the Holy Grail (1890-1902). Later in 1902, he painted King Edward VII's coronation portrait. Slightly soiled. ¼x¼-inch paper loss at upper margin of mid-vertical fold. Overall, fine condition.