13 April 1874 • Hartford, Conn. (Transcript and paraphrase: AAA 1924, lot 113, UCCL 09451)
paraphrase: Autograph Letter . . . relative to an item which appeared in a large number of papers & find that it is not calculated to do any harm. I’ve had no complimentary dinner, & so I wondered how the item was born—but I remember, now, that it was told on Wilkie Collins, in jest, (he had a dinner in Boston when I was there lecturing)1explanatory note & by George, in getting into print the joke has got the “wrong sow by the ear,” as the psalmist says.2explanatory note
Clemens had attended a dinner for Wilkie Collins in Boston on 16 February. Although he did not formally lecture there at that time, he did appear on the platform on 17 February, to introduce Kingsley’s lecture (see 13 Feb 74 to Kingsley, n. 3click to open letter, and 13 Feb 74 to Redpath, n. 1click to open letter).
The phrase does not occur in the Bible. It was among the colloquial sayings first collected by English epigrammatist and playwright John Heywood (1497?–?1580) in his Proverbs, published in 1546.
Transcript and paraphrase, AAA 1924, lot 113, which describes the MS as “2pp. 12mo.”
L6 , 106–107.
When offered for sale in 1924 the MS was part of the collection of William F. Gable.