December 3 Monday – At 1410 W. 10th in N.Y.C., Sam wrote to Augustus T. Gurlitz (1843-1928), New York attorney representing Rudyard Kipling.
I thank you quite immeasurably for the Kipling set, & you must send for the Fenno lot whenever you need it, for I doubt if I get a chance in six months to study the matter….
If you didn’t get Howells to make an affidavit, he must do it. Everybody should help [MTP].
Note: N.Y. publisher R.F. Fenno & Co. issued a pirated edition in 1890 of Kipling’s works, competing with the authorized edition, “Outward Bound” by Scribner’s. Sam here acknowledged receipt of the Scribner’s set for comparison with the pirated version. Sam would testify on Mar. 14, 1901 for the plaintiff in Kipling’s lawsuit; also he would use Gurlitz to bring suit against Chicago publisher Butler Brothers for issuing an unauthorized edition of the “Library of Wit and Humor by Mark Twain.”
Sam also wrote to Laurence Hutton, dictating the letter to an unidentified person.
Won’t you please see Mr. Cleveland & ask him this question for me: Would it be possible to get the Spanish Treaty of Paris before the Supreme Court for examination & decision as to its constitutionality & legality? And if so: What steps must be taken in order to bring the matter before the court? [MTP]. Note: the court has never held a treaty to be unconstitutional, but does have the discretion to do so.
Sam also wrote a line to James B. Pond: “Dear Pond—/ I find your book well written & distinctly interesting”
[MTP]. Note: Pond’s 1900 Eccentricities of Genius, etc Pond had inscribed a copy to Livy on Nov. 17, 1900 [Gribben 553].
Sam also wrote to General Wilson.
“I return the enclosures, with many thanks to you for the privilege of reading Mrs. Aker’s pleasant letter” [MTP: eBay Apr. 23, 2002]. Note: this may have been to Gen. James H. Wilson (1837-1925); Gribben lists one book in Sam’s library by Wilson [777]. Mrs. Akers may be Elizabeth (Ann Chase) Akers Allen, whom Sam replied to on July 17 and July 30. She wrote under the name Elizabeth Akers.
Sam also wrote to Helen Maria Winslow (1851-1938), honored by her invitation but declined: “…I mustn’t even dream of it. What I’m sighing for is a holiday!” [MTP].
Note: Winslow was dramatic editor of The Boston Beacon (1891-1897), and later women’s editor of The Boston Transcript and the Delineator Magazine; the author of Concerning Cats (1900), which first ran in St. Nicholas in Aug. 1900; she also was the publisher and editor of The Club Woman, a society newspaper (1897-1904). Her request likely had to do with a Boston gathering.
Sam also wrote to Eduard Pötzl. “Health & prosperity” [MTP]. UCCL 13251 letter is currently unavailable.
Augustus T. Gurlitz, N.Y. attorney representing Kipling in a suit against Fenno, wrote to Sam, sending him a set of Kipling’s Outward Bound and a five-volume box of the Fenno Library Edition, “so that you may conveniently compare the books.” He was familiar with Sam’s work on copyright legislation. He also thought Kipling could find “substantial relief” beyond what Sam had in Clemens v. Belford using trade-mark and unfair competition. That suit went against Sam.
In thinking over the conversation we had a few days ago, it occurs to me that you might like to take up the subject of intellectual property on the side of fair dealing and trade-mark, and I know of no instance which brings up the matter so free from technical complications as the effort of Mr. Kipling to protect his edition. The subject is worth some investigation [MTP].