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Mon, 20 Jan 2025 17:41:13 +0000 |
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Recently Fred Holabird asked me to explain what a December 1862 paper signed by “Saml L Clemens” was about. His auction house, Holabird Western Americana in Reno, is offering it in his internet live auction on Saturday Feb 1, as lot 2265. The brief answer to what the paper signed by Clemens was about is that it was a voucher for Territorial Enterprise newspaper reporting about the Second Nevada Territorial Legislature as well as copy work done for the legislators. Through a Territorial Law, Sam was to receive $240. The document offered at auction is the certification that payment was due him. This was the session during which Sam named Virginia City Daily Union reporter Clement T. Rice “the Unreliable.” Just 44 days after signing this paper, on February 2, 1863, Sam Clemens used “the Unreliable” to identify for readers the writer behind this new Enterprise letter writer “Mark Twain.” The document being offered by Holabird Auctions, one of few pre-fame Clemens signatures extant, could well also be the last signature by Sam Clemens before stepping into the added persona of Mark Twain. How to absentee bid is explained at www.fhwac.com
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