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THANKING FOR SYMPATHY UPON DEATH OF HISWIFE
289
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TWAIN, MARK. Printed Letter Signed, “S.L. Clemens,” to an unnamed recipient
(“To whom this shall come”), thanking for words of sympathy. 1 page, 8vo, mourning sta-
tionery, with integral blank; horizontal fold.
Florence, June 1904
[2,000/3,000]
“
For what you have said, I thank you more than I can tell. If I could, I would thank with my
own hand and pen each friend who has remembered me and mine with a kindly word of sym-
pathy in this heavy time, but I am not able to do it. Therefore I beg that this general
acknowledgement may be accepted as a token of the gratitude, unexpressed & inexpressible,
which is in my heart.”
In 1903,Twain’s family moved to Italy in the hope that the climate would improve the failing
health of his wife, Livy, who died in Florence on June 5, 1904, after suffering from a string of
illnesses.