August 10 Wednesday – Frederick J. Hall, responding to the obvious depression of Sam’s Aug. 3 letter, wrote encouraging news and a report on the state of the business. Since his return from the West, Charles Webster had been laid up, coming to the office intermittently. Hall reported that the outlook was good with no outstanding debts save profits of Sam’s, which he might elect to withdraw. Further, Hall reported that both the Pope’s book and McClellan’s were selling well, despite the season.

We have sold since April 1st to August 1st 21577 books and prospectuses. It must be borne in mind that these months are hot, unprofitable and considered the dullest of the year [MTNJ 3: 311n33; MTLTP 224n1].

Hall conveyed Charles Webster’s opinion that Mark Twain books were associated with lots of illustrations, and books such as Mark Twain’s Library of Humor, or Connecticut Yankee would have to be liberally and well-illustrated to be successful [MTLTP 225n4].