SAMUEL CLEMENS CLIMBS OUT OF BANKRUPTCY. CLEMENS, SAMUEL (MARK TWAIN). 1835-1910. And OLIVIA CLE...

SAMUEL CLEMENS CLIMBS OUT OF BANKRUPTCY. CLEMENS, SAMUEL (MARK TWAIN). 1835-1910. And OLIVIA CLEMENS. 1845-1904. Letter and 2 Documents Signed, regarding Henry Huttleston Rogers successful rescue of Clemens from financial straits, including: 1. Typed Document Signed ('Samuel Clemens'), giving Power of Attorney to H.H. Rogers 'to sue and prosecute collect compromise or settle all claims or demands due now existing or hereafter to arise ... and to adjust settle and pay all claims or demands ... against me,' 2 pp, recto only, quarto (approximately 285 x 185 mm), New York, May 7, 1894, with embossed official stamp, ink stamp on verso of signature page, signed by New York City clerk John Flynn, with an attached filing slip in pink paper, minor age spotting, matted and framed. 2. Typed Document Signed ('Olivia Clemens'), being Olivia Clemens's contract with Frank Mayo giving permission for Mayo's dramatization of Pudd'nhead Wilson, after her husband had declared bankruptcy, and his assets were put under her name to protect them from his creditors, with witness signatures at lower margin, including H.H. Rogers, 1 p, legal folio (340 x 215 mm), September 29, 1894, soiling and chipping to lower edge, a few creases, float mounted and framed. 3. Autograph Letter Signed ('Samuel Clemens'), to Frank Bliss advising him to deal directly with the Harpers, likely regarding details of the British publication of the Uniform Edition, and advising that Rogers was fully briefed on the details, 2 pp recto and verso, Kaltenluetgeben (near Vienna), July 20, 1898, fold creases, large stain on lower part of recto, matted in double-glazed frame. Provenance: Family of Henry H. Rogers, by descent to the current owner. A SMALL ARCHIVE OF DOCUMENTS RELATING HENRY HUTTLESTON ROGERS AND CLEMENS' RISE FROM BANKRUPTCY. By the early 1890s, the most successful American author of the 19th-century had remarkably found himself in dire financial need. Despite his success, he had made some grand financial blunders. He invested heavily in an automated typesetting machine, whose inventor, James Paige, continually promised would revolutionize the publishing business. It never came to fruition. Clemens also started his own publishing house, Charles L. Webster & Co, feeling that the established companies were taking advantage of him, but although his own works sold well, most other titles published by the company were disastrous flops. Remarkably, the famous author was broke. Thankfully, in 1893, he met his financial savior, and close friend, H.H. Rogers. Rogers had made a fortune as 'one of the architects, strategists, and managers of the Standard Oil trust.' From the moment of their introduction, Rogers became his financial advisor and closest companion, which would continue until Rogers' death in 1898. He was imbued with Clemens's complete trust as shown in these documents, and he led the financially hapless author back from rags to riches. The documents here, direct from Rogers's descendants, offer a wonderful overview of their relationship, and their closeness. The original contract they signed establishes Rogers' financial control over Clemens' business matters, which in 1894 included all of Clemens' finances running through Rogers for a period while he regained financial footing. The second document shows one of the financial instruments Rogers employed to regain that footing, with Clemens's wife Olivia entering into an agreement with producer Mayo, after his assets had been moved under her name in order to protect them. And finally, Clemens's letter to Bliss, written July 20, 1898, just months after Clemens had finally paid off his creditors and was beginning to accumulate funds. The year was a watershed year for his finances, and this letter reveals the complete control and trust that Clemens placed in Rogers: 'If you needed me to help, I was there to do it, from the very beginning, in the person of Mr. Rogers ... he is always there representing me & armed with full authority to transact business for me and for Mrs. Clemens. He is still ready to do anything wise & needful — so I do not need to cable. There is nothing I could do by cabling which he can't do himself if he approves.' Throughout the process of saving Clemens's finances, the two men became the closest of friends. Twain would say of Rogers, 'I am his principal intimate, and that is my idea of him.' See Halla, 'The Plutocrat and the Author: Mark Twain and H. H. Rogers,' Mark Twain Journal 18:3 (Winter 1976-1977), pp. 18-19. For further information on this lot please visit Bonhams.com For further information about this lot please visit the lot listing