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
> > >
> >
>