April 19 Thursday In London, England Sam wrote an aphorism to Miss Bessie S. Bowker, Peckham, S.E., London: “There isn’t a Parallel of Latitude but thinks it would have been the Equator if it had had its rights. / Truly Yours / Mark Twain / Miss Bessie S. Bowker. / Apl. 19, 1900” [MTP].
April 18 Wednesday – Christian B. Tauchnitz wrote from Maxen, Germany to Sam, the letter not extant but referred to in Tauchnitz’s May 12 [MTP].
Chatto & Windus’ Jan. 1, 1904 statement to Clemens shows 1,000 2s.0d. copies of P&P were printed, for a total printed to date of 14,250 [1904 Financials file MTP].
April 17 Tuesday – Sam’s notebook: “Letter from Lyman Gage, Secretary of the Treasury. Answered it one or 2 days later & asked for a note to Custom House” [NB 43 TS 8]. Note: see other entries for Lyman J. Gage, who was evidently the Treasurer of the Plasmon Syndicate. See Apr. 19 NB entry.
At 30 Wellington Court in London, England Sam replied to William James (sadly, James’ letter is not extant).
April 16 Monday – The Clemens family were at Henry M. Stanley’s country place in Surrey, the last of a “few days’ visit” [Apr. 17 to James].
Basil (Canon) Wilberforce wrote to Sam asking if he would give the Joan of Arc talk before 90 people in his drawing-room on Wednesday, May 30 [MTP]. Note: Fatout lists a reading for May 30.
April 15 Sunday – The Clemens family were at Henry M. Stanley’s country place in Surrey.
Insert: Furze Hill, Stanley’s Country Home
April 14 Saturday – The Clemens family were at Henry M. Stanley’s country place in Surrey.
Jonas Henrick Kellgren Osteopath, billed £10.10.0 for 25 visits to Apr. 14 for Jean’s treatments [1900 Financial file MTP].
Furze Hill (or Furzehill) is a hamlet situated in the New Forest National Park of Hampshire, England. It is in the civil parish of Ellingham, Harbridge and Ibsley. Its nearest town is Fordingbridge, which lies approximately 3.1 miles (5.2 km) north-west from the hamlet.
Country Home of Henry M. Stanley.
April 12 Thursday – In London, England Sam wrote to George B. Harvey, sending a table of contents for the proposed London and Tauchnitz editions of The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg and Other Stories. Sam wrote he’d “knocked out 42,000 words & left 130,000—an over-abundance still,” and gave Harvey, the new President of Harper & Brothers, permission to “knock out anything you want; & leave in anything you please” [MTP]. Note: the letter written on old Chatto & Windus letterhead.
April 11 Wednesday – Sam’s notebook: “Made Director” [NB 43 TS 8]. Note: of the Plasmon Syndicate.
Paul Kester replied to Sam’s Mar. 24 suggestions:
April 10 Tuesday – Sam’s notebook: “Dillingham, Savoy, dinner, 7.30. / Marda. / She Stoops to Conquer. / Invite Doubleday & wife here to tea” [NB 43 TS 8].
Note: this entry was written & struck through on Apr. 7. Sam noted Oliver Goldsmiths’ (1728-1774) play, She Stoops to Conquer. Gribben speculates “conceivably he saw a performance of it around that time in London”