Mark Twain Manuscript Sells for $242,500 at Sotheby's Auction

Posted on June 21, 2010

A tribute Mark Twain wrote to his daughter was sold at a Sotheby's auction for $242,500. Mark Twain's daughter, Olivia Susy Clemens, was just 24 when she died from spinal meningitis. The manuscript was 64 pages long and contains Twain's thought about his own childhood.

Reuters reports that the document has been described as the missing chapter of his autobiography.

Sotheby's said in a statement, "What initially began as a tribute to his late -- and undisputed favorite -- daughter Susy thus devolved into a narrative that encompasses the whole of this family and friends as well as glimpses of incidents of his own childhood."

The manuscript sold for twice as much as expected. It is possible the recent news that Mark Twain's full autobiography is finally going to be published helped make the manuscript more valuable.