Samuel L. Clemens Handwritten Letter Signed

ALS, in pencil, signed “S. L. Clemens,” one page, 3.5 x 5.25, no date. Brief letter to Mr. Hutchins. In full: “This is to introduce my friends Paige and Davis who desire to see the type-setter at work as per my conversation with you.” On the adjacent page Clemens adds, “Office of the Post.” Nicely double-suede-matted and framed with a portrait of Clemens and a biographical plaque to an overall size of 18 x 30. In fine condition, with a thin strip of tape along hinge and some surface loss and rubbing along top edge.

Having spent a good deal of his teenage years setting type by hand as an apprentice printer, Clemens wholeheartedly believed that the Paige Compositor—a printing press that would use a mechanical arm to set the type—would be one of the greatest (and most lucrative) inventions of all time. It was thus that he assumed the major financial responsibility of the project in exchange for a percentage of anticipated profits. At the mercy of inventor James Paige and mechanical expert Charles Davis, introduced in this letter, Clemens’s investment slowly soured; as the project’s development moved at a snail’s pace, the new Linotype hit the market with great success, making Paige’s machine obsolete before it was even completed. Clemens lost not only the bulk of his book profits but also a substantial portion of his wife's inheritance, and in 1894, was forced to file for bankruptcy. An interesting document regarding the men and the invention that led to the financial unraveling of the entrepreneurial author. Pre-certified PSA/DNA and RR Auction COA.

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