Mark Twain: Animal List & “The Cat in a Ruff.”
Ex-collection Peter Gottesman: August 1, 1907, Tuxedo Park, New York. Mark Twain’s letter to Joy, the 8-year-old daughter of the Editor of England’s PUNCH magazine, who Twain had recently met in London at a dinner at which he was awarded an honorary degree from Oxford University (of which he remained exceedingly proud until his death in 1910). The young Joy gave a speech at the dinner in Twain’s honor. Twain’s letter, shown here, is in response to an innocent letter Joy sent to Twain upon his return to New York, in which the young girl proudly described her bevy of pets to him. Twain’s letter reiterates, in the form of a wonderful list, the animals Joy had mentioned.
On page 3 Twain writes,
“Well certainly you are well off, Joy:
3 bantams
3 goldfish
3 doves
6 canarys
2 dogs
1 cat
All you need, now, to be permanently beyond the reach of want, is one more dog – just one more good, gentle, high-principled, affectionate, loyal dog who wouldn’t want any nobler service than the golden privilege of lying at your door nights, + biting everything that comes along - + I am that very one, + ready to come at the dropping of a hat...
Mark Twain (signature)
PS: Would you please be good + send me the lovely speech you made to me?”
A charmingly innocent painting of The Cat in a Ruff which hung in the library of Mark Twain’s beloved Hartford, Connecticut estate. Twain often told stories to his daughters featuring this feline character he invented.