To Cyril Coniston Clemens
C/o Brown Shipley & Co.
123, Pall Mall, London.
Rome. January 21, 1930.
Rashly assuming that the books in your Society Library are going to be read, and not merely to be a beautiful monument to the truth that of making many books there is no end, I will send you two of my productions, “Soliloquies in England”, because I think it is the least unworthy to be offered in homage to the Shade of Mark Twain, and “Character & Opinion in the U.S.”. because the title is the most likely to tempt the casual hand to take it from the shelf.
You needn’t have sent a cheque with your request; an inscribed book ought not to be paid for: but I send you the extra one gratis to satisfy my conscience on this point.
From The Letters of George Santayana: Book Four, 1928-1932. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, 2003.
Location of manuscript:William R. Perkins Library, Duke University, Durham NC.