October 16 Friday – In London Sam wrote to Edward M. (Ned) Bunce, sharing shock and sorrow over the loss of Susy.

Ah me, you knew how rare she was, & how far you would have had to go to find her peer.

We are so glad you had that last talk with her — it will be a grateful memory with us. …I have not forgotten, & shall not forget, that time that you and Henry Robinson offered to help me when all others failed [MTP].

Note: Sam likely referred to his last trip to Hartford to seek financial help, right before Dr. Clarence Rice arranged the first financial meeting with H.H. Rogers, Sept. 12-13, 1893.

Sam also wrote to Edmund C. Stedman. He offered some lines of poetry he’d found in Susy’s papers, and asked if they were new to him or not. Susy normally put quotation marks around borrowed material, but these verses had none, so Sam was assuming she’d written them, and he wished to use them in a “brief life of our daughter…for private circulation among our relatives.” He also addressed the matter of his withdrawal from the Authors Club and the misunderstanding about the “Californians Tale” which appeared in The First Book of the Authors Club; Liber Scriptorum (1893) Stedman edited. Sam didn’t want Stedman to think he quit the club over the matter, but that it was for economy’s sake.

As for the Liber Scriptorum matter, it is not a thing which can be resolved by correspondence, but only by conversation & a calm examination of the matter — & not by excitable men, but men with a lucid mind & the ability to use it judicially, like Rossiter Johnson. / Sincerely Yours / SL Clemens [MTP].

Note: Rossiter Johnson (1840-1931) American editor from Rochester, N.Y; prolific author, historian and officer of Authors’ Club for fourteen years. He was associate editor (1873-77) of the American Cyclopaedia, editor (1883-1902) of the Annual Cyclopedia, and managing editor (1886-89) of the Cyclopedia of American Biography. He originated and edited the “Little Classics” (18 vol., 1875-80) and was editor in chief of “The World’s Great Books” (40 vol., 1898-1901). He also lectured widely and wrote a variety of books.