Twice-Signed Mourning Card, with handwritten message, following the death of his wife.
[signed twice] One-page black-bordered card, with the printed date "Florence, Italy June 1904", accompanied by the black-bordered envelope bearing the postmark "Tyringham Mass. Jul 26 1904".
This letter is from one of the very darkest periods of Mark Twain's life -- as his ten-years-younger wife Olivia "Livy" Langdon Clemens had just died.
In 1895, the youngest Clemens daughter Jean (age 15), following a fall, started having epileptic seizures that would be a major factor in the entire family's life. The following year, their 24-year-old eldest daughter Susy died suddenly of spinal meningitis in their Hartford home (before Livy was able to get home to be with her). Livy insisted that the family leave the Hartford home where the three girls had grown up; after this, for the next decade they lived a rather nomadic life, largely in Europe -- seeking rest for Livy and treatment for Jean. In August 1902, Livy (who had always had lung difficulties) suffered what was almost certainly a heart attack. Late in 1903 they settled in Florence. Daughter Clara bore the twin responsibilities of keeping news of Jean's health away from Livy, and keeping news of Livy's health away from Jean (later that year Clara would spend time at a convalescent home, getting over all of this). Sam Clemens himself tried to make himself scarce in Florence, lest his presence elevate Livy's anxiety. Olivia Langdon Clemens, age 58, wife of Mark Twain for 34 years, died on June 5, 1904 -- after which the remaining family returned to the United States.
Her death would leave a hole in the family that neither of his daughters or friends could fill. In their memoirs and letters, Clara, Katy [the family maid] – and particularly the stricken Sam Clemens himself – comment on their inability to take part in everyday life, travel, and writing after Livy’s death [MT H&M].
On July 16th, Samuel and his two surviving daughters arrived at Richard Watson Gilder's Four Brooks Farm, in Tyringham Massachusetts -- to rest, to recuperate, and to grieve. Ten days later, this mourning card was put into the mail. The pre-printed part reads:
To whom this shall come: [followed by the recipient's name handwritten by Twain] | For what you have said, I thank you more than I can tell. If I could, I would thank with my own hand and pen each friend who has remembered me and mine with a kindly word of sympathy in this heavy time, but I am not able to do it. Therefore I beg that this general acknowledgement may be accepted as a token of the gratitude, unexpressed & inexpressible, which is in my heart. | [space for signature] | Florence, Italy June 1904.
This card bears not only the signature "S L Clemens" but also his initialed personal note "Few will know, better than you, the weight of the blow which has fallen upon us. S L C".
The recipient of this card (per Twain's handwritten insertion) was "Dear Mrs Boyle" -- who on the envelope is further identified as Mrs. Virginia Frazer Boyle of Shelby Street, Memphis Tenn. -- novelist, poet and playwright. Born in Chattanooga in 1863, she went on to be known as "Poet Laureate of the Confederacy" (which according to legend Jefferson Davis had dubbed her, after 10-year-old Boyle read a poem to him in 1873). Virginia and Livy Clemens were personal and literary correspondents -- the latest-known being letters from Livy in Spring 1902; there were also numerous letters from Mark Twain to her between 1901 and his death in 1910, and she was on the guest list for Mark Twain's 70th birthday celebration in December 1905. It is also possible that she assisted Sam (_not_ a poet) with the writing of his 1897 poem "In Memoriam -- Olivia Susan Clemens" (Blanck 3450).
The letter is in fine condition (folded once for mailing); the envelope (with 2¢ stamp, and additional postmarks of Lee Mass. and of Memphis Tenn.) is very good. A poignant letter from one of the most difficult months of Mark Twain's entire life. Item #15861
Price: $4,950.00