June 13 Thursday – At Quarry Farm Sam wrote to John D. Adams of Harper & Brothers The proof he’d received of “Mental Telegraphy Again,” which would run in the Sept. issue, contained no errors. Because he could not read segments of JA before they appeared in Harper’s Monthly, Sam supposed that the chapters XII and XV, which he thought would appear in the August or September issues, might be read in Australia in mid-Sept. He announced he would start west July 6 and read “about a dozen times between here and Vancouver.” Nothing in JA save those chapters could be used in readings since he felt “too much introduction & explanation” would be needed. Significantly, he announced his plans for a major announcement with regard to JA:

But I’ll break the incognito in Sydney in September for the sake of having something to contrast with the broad-farcial Jumping Frog & such.

His health prevented him from coming to New York before the tour. Would Adams ask J. Henry Harper if his affairs with the firm were “all complete & ship-shape, or is there a detailed contract to be examined & signed.” If there was, Sam wanted it, for he was “perishing with idleness” [MTP].

Sam also wrote to Chatto & Windus, asking for a copy of In the Himalayas and on the Indian Plains, by Constance Frederica Gordon-Cumming (1886). The book could be sent in care of R.S. Smythe, Melbourne Australia until October. Gribben notes Sam’s copy was signed on the half-title page, S.L. Clemens, Bombay, 1896; the book “contains hundreds of notes, corrections, and markings in Clemens’ hand, according to A1911. One note reads:

We must take the position that burial is stuck to merely in the interest of the undertaker (who has his family cremated to save expense) [Gribben 268].

Sam also wrote his old buddy Frank Fuller, obviously answering Fuller’s letter (not extant) about discussing business. He was unable to do so, still in bed with his carbuncles. He related the two magazine offers he had for twelve articles, and doubted that he would accept either. Although exaggerating the challenge of book writing, he wrote,

My objection is that magazine-writing is mighty difficult work, whereas book-writing isn’t any trouble [MTP].

Note: See Mar. 5, 1895 and Mar. 6, 1894 entries — Sam evidently sought Fuller for raising capital or other business — perhaps related to his Uniform Edition “scheme” with William Evarts Benjamin. In past years Fuller had sold Sam various securities or financial schemes.

Sam also wrote a short letter to James B. Pond on details of the circular Pond was putting together. Sam objected to the “cut” of him, which he felt was “atrocious — and 20 years too young, anyway. Use the Benjamin cut & throw that abortion away.” The circular on p.189 of Lorch seems to have retained this objectionable cut of a younger Sam [MTP]. Note: Pond had possibly ordered the circulars with this cut of Sam, or possibly Livy overrode Sam’s veto.