Some possible clues:
In NB III:174-78 Twain made a note to himself to send copies of Grant's
Memoirs to Andrew Reasoner (1823-1900), Frank J. Griffith (b. 1847), and
somebody named Billings. All three men were connected to the Delaware,
Lakawana & Western RR (owned by the Langdons) who made arrangements for
a special car each summer to take the Clemenses to/from Elmira. The
copies to Reasoner and Griffith survive (I own the Griffith copy) but I
don't know about the one to Billings.
In NB III:212-17 Twain made a note to give a Grant Memoirs to the
Hartford RR station manager, William Collins.
Searching the letters at MTP and elsewhere for these men's names might
lead you to details about those arrangements.
BTW, I wish I had a death date for Griffith. I'm nearly certain that he
is dead.
Kevin
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------ Original Message ------
From: "Matt Seybold" <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask]
Sent: 8/21/2021 8:03:55 PM
Subject: Re: Luxury "Hotel" railroad car
>I don’t have the references in front of me, but the Clemenses used the Langdon family’s private cars regularly in the 1900s (and probably before as well). I believe there is a letter in which Twain describes one in some detail as part of planning to transport Livy back to Elmira while she was convalescing.
>
> - MS
>
>> On Aug 21, 2021, at 8:48 PM, Barbara Schmidt <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>>
>> The reference you may be thinking of is mentioned in a letter to John
>> McComb 6(?) Feb. 1870. The original letter is apparently lost. The
>> transcription from newspaper publication is online at:
>>https://www.marktwainproject.org/xtf/view?docId=letters/UCCL00420.xml;query=Palace%20car;searchAll=yes;sectionType1=text;sectionType2=explanatorynotes;sectionType3=editorialmatter;sectionType4=textualapparatus;sectionType5=;style=letter;brand=mtp#1
>>
>> Barb
>>
>>> On Saturday, August 21, 2021, Scott Holmes <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>>>
>>> I've gotten hints that Mark Twain had available to him, at least briefly,
>>> a luxury railroad car, probably made available to him by his
>>> father-in-law. I would appreciate any leads on this as Google seems to
>>> know nothing about it. I did see the term "hotel" used to describe a car
>>> Twain rode in, possibly from Elmira to New York, if I'm not mistaken.
>>>
>
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