Dodgeville chronicle. [volume] (Dodgeville, Wis.) 1862-current, 1872-11-01
A Letter from "Mark Twain
To the Editor ofthe London Spectator:


SIR: only venture to intrude upon
you because come, in one sense, in the
interest of public morality, and this
makes my mission respectable. Mr.. John
Camden Hotten, of London, has, of his
own individual notion, republished
several of my books in England. l do
not protest against this, for there is no
law that could give effect to the protest;
and, besides, publishers are not account
able to the laws OF heaven or earth in any
country, as I understand it. But my
little grievance is this: My books are bad
enough just as they are written; then
what must they be after Mr.. John Camden
Hotten has composed half dozen chap
ters and added the same to them? / feel
that all true hearts will bleed for an
author whose volumes have fallen under
such dispensation as this. If q friend
of yours, or If even yourself, were to
write book and set it adrift among the
people, with the gravest apprehensions
that it was not up to what it ought to be
Intellectually, how would you like to have
John Camden Hotten sit down and
stimulate his powers, and drool two or
three original chapters on to the end OF
that book9 Would not the world seem
cold and hollow to you? HWould you not
feel that you wanted to die and be at rest9
Little the world knows of true suffering.
And suppose he should entitle these chap
tiers: Holiday Literature, ''True Story
of Chicago" con Children" "Train up a
Child, and Away he Goes" and even
geance. " and then, on the strength of
having evolved these marvels from his
own consciousness, go on and copy
right the entire book, and put in the
title-page a picture OF man with his
hands in another mans pocket, and the
legend Gail Rights Reserved" q only
suppose the picture; still, it would be a
rather neat thing) And, further, sup
pose that, in the kindness of his heart
and the exuberance of his untaught fancy,
this thoroughly well-meaning innocent
should expunge the modest title which
you had given your book, and replace it
with so foul an invention as this,
''Screamers and Eyeopeners," and went
and got that copyrighted, too. And sup
pose that on the top of all this he con-
tinually and persistently forgot to offer
YOU single penny, or even send you q
copy of your mutilated book to burn.
Let one suppose all this. Let him sup
pose it with strength enough, and then he
will know something about woe. Some
times when I read one of those additional
chapters constructed by John Camden
Hotten, feel as if | wanted to take q
broom-straw and go and knock that mans
brains out. Not in anger, for feel none.
Oh! not in anger; but only to see, that IS
all. Mere idle curiosity.
And Mr.. Hotten says that one nom de
plume of mine is "Carl Byng." I hold
that there is no affliction in this world
that makes q man feel so down-trodden
and abused as the giving him a name that
does not belong to him. How would this
sinful aborigine feel if [ were to call him
John Camden Hottentot, and come out
in the papers and say he was entitled to
it by divine right? I do honestly believe
it would throw him into brain fever, if
there were not an insuperable obstacle in
the way.
Yes-to come back to the original sub
iect, which is the sorrow that is slowly
but surely undermining my health-Mr.
Hotten prints unrevised, uncOrrected,
and, in some respects, spurious books,
with my name to them as author, and
thus embitters his customers against one
of the most innocent of men. Messrs.
George Routledge & Sons are the only
English publishers who pay me any copy
right, and, therefore, if my books are tC
disseminate either suffering or crime
among readers of our language, l would
ever so much rather they did it through
that house. and then l could contemplate
the spectacle calmly as the dividends
came in. l am, sir, etc,
SAMUEL L. CLEMENS ("Mark Twain'D.
LONDON, Sept. 20, 1872.