TWAIN LETTER GIVEN TO REDDING LIBRARY
Special to The New York Times.
REDDING, Conn., April 29 - The Mark Twain Library this week received a first edition of Twain's "Petition to the Queen of England."
The petition is a letter he wrote to Queen Victoria complaining about an income tax England wanted him to pay. Albert Bigelow Paine, the writer's biographer, described it as "one of the most exquisite of Mark Twain's humors."
The piece was first printed in Harper's Monthly magazine in December, 1887. That section of the magazine was repaired and rebound and presented to the library's Samuel Clemens Collection. Mark Twain was Clemens' pen name.
The edition was found by Duane Haley of Redding, who turned it over to William Ireland Starr, also of Redding. Mr. Starr passed it on to the library.
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