The letter in question was written by Paine to William Harlowe Briggs, an editor at Harper's. Frederick Anderson noted on the back of MTP's Xerox "Harper & Row | 6/13/67." That suggests the original was then in the archives of Harper & Rowe and that we acquired the photocopy on 13 June 1967. I don't know where the Harper archive is now, but it's probably locatable. We don't as a rule make duplicates of photocopied documents given us by other institutions, but I don't think it will violate anyone's rights if I transcribe it and make the full text available to anyone who asks ( [log in to unmask]). On Sun, Nov 19, 2017 at 6:17 PM, Taylor Roberts <[log in to unmask]> wrote: > Hamlin Hill, _MT: God's Fool_ (pp. 268, 296) quotes the letter from a > photocopy at MTP: > > "I think on general principles it is a mistake to let any one else write > about Mark Twain, as long as we can prevent it.... As soon as this is begun > (writing about him at all, I mean) the Mark Twain that we have > 'preserved'--the Mark Twain that we knew, the traditional Mark Twain--will > begin to fade and change, and with that process the Harper Mark Twain > property will depreciate." > > On Sun, Nov 19, 2017 at 9:03 PM, Dave Davis <[log in to unmask]> > wrote: > > > I'd like to see that, too. I suffer from Painimosity. > > > > DDD > > > > On Sun, Nov 19, 2017 at 5:01 PM, Mary Eden <[log in to unmask]> > wrote: > > > > > On 1 August, 1926, Paine wrote a letter to Harper's indicating it would > > be > > > a mistake to let anyone else write about Twain. I have been unable to > > > discover the location of that letter. Do any of you happen to know > where > > it > > > may be found? I'd sure appreciate your help. > > > > > > Mary > > > > > > > > > Mary Eden > > > > > >