June 2 Saturday – Sam’s notebook: “Prof. J. Mark Baldwin of Princeton coming with J.L. Adams 11 a.m. Writes books on psychology. Oxford, now, on this industry. / Burford Bridge Hotel Dorking. / Andrew Lang? See July 1, for his address” [NB 43 TS 14].
June 3 Sunday – Whitsuntide (Pentecost) in London. Sam’s notebook: “1 Hamilton Place, Piccaly / Boating on the Thames. Herring. / Train 11. Paddington. / to Taplow—11 am arriving at 11.38. Fly waiting—the man will have white ribbon on his whip. / Dinner / Burford Bridge Hotel Dorking” [NB 43 TS 14].
Adele Chapin (Mrs. Robert Chapin) recalls Mark Twain coming by two days after their dinner where he met the artist James Abbott McNeil Whistler:
June 4 Monday – Sam’s notebook: “Chapin 8. If coming send no telegram. / Send congratulations to Miss Mai Rogers 26 E 57th—cable about noon. / CHAPIN—Dinner 8 pm” [NB 43 TS 14]. Note: Robert and Adele Chapin; Robert was US Consul in Johannesburg during Sam’s 1896 tour there.
In London, England Sam wrote a postcard to Franklin G. Whitmore.
June 5 Tuesday – Sam’s notebook: “Exhibition (medical) Queen’s Hall, top of Regent St—3 p.m./ Jim Clemens—dinner 7.30. 22 Queensberry Place, Cromwell Road / Jap show. Nottinghill Gate Coronet Theatre 2.30 p.m.” [NB 43 TS 15].
At 30 Wellington Court in London, Sam replied to an invitation by James Mark Baldwin to dine at one of the Oxford colleges.
Dear Professor Baldwin:—
I shall like it. It is so long since I was last in Oxford that all its features are grown dim to me; even Guy Faux’s lantern.
June 6 Wednesday – Sam’s notebook: “? Article Club Lord Suffield, Pr. Laurence Cowen, Sec. 6.30 for 7. Trocadero Restaurant. / Andrew Lang? / 36 Theobald’s Row with Spal—3 pm” [NB 43 TS 15].
June 7 Thursday – Sam’s notebook: “Murray, 11.40 to Victoria, Brighton. / Went to Woldingham, Surrey. Saw Robert Bar [sic Barr] & family” [NB 43 TS 15].
At 9 p.m., 30 Wellington Court in London, Sam wrote again to James Mark Baldwin, after sending a telegram.
June 8 Friday – Clara Clemens’ 26th birthday.
Sam’s notebook: “Duke st Plasmon (noon. [ )]” [NB 43 TS 15]. Note: 56 Duke Street for Plasmon meeting.
June 9 Saturday – Sam’s notebook: “Call at 20 at 5.30. GOUT FOOD. / Savage Club 6 p.m. with MacAlister. / Afterward, the dinner to Irving at the Savoy—8.30 or 9 will do, I guess” [NB 43 TS 15]. Note: “Call at 20” likely refers to an address.
Sam attended a welcome home dinner for Sir Henry Irving after his American tour at the Savoy Hotel in London. From the June 10 N.Y. Times, p.4
WELCOME HOME TO IRVING.
Ambassador Choate in a Witty Vein—
June 10 Sunday – Sam’s notebook: “Oxford, 9 or 11.45 see next page” [NB 43 TS 15]. Note: next page, lined out: “Oxford: 9 or 11.45 Paddington. Prof. J. Mark Baldwin. Drive straight to 6 Bardwell Rd. Dinner & all night” [NB 43 TS 16].
Fatout gives this date for Sam’s speech (not recorded) at Magdalen College, Oxford. Sam had been unable to attend an earlier planned luncheon (June 7) with James Mark Baldwin, who wrote in his memoirs:
June 11 Monday – Sam’s notebook: “Andrew Lang, 1 Marloes Road, Kensington / Admiral Bridge 22 Wilton st Kensington / Plasmon 12? / Mailed letters to Wm. M. Clemens, P.O. Box 1716 New York & the Bowen-Merril Co., Indianapolis warning them not to issue those books” [NB 43 TS 15-16]. Note: see June 13 to H.H. Rogers on Will M. Clemens matter; the letter to Will’s publisher IS not extant.
June 12 Tuesday – Sam’s notebook: “MacMillan, dinner—8.15 52 Cadogan Place. / Hon. Mem. for 1 month from date. Beefsteak Club, 9 Green st., Leicester W.C. Maj. Stuart Wortley” [NB 43 TS 16]. Note: Beefsteak Club, founded in 1876, was the descendant of several other clubs from the 1700s. It was an after-theatre club bohemian in nature with about 200 members, including Henry Irving, John Lawrence Toole, Henry Labouchere, and others.
June 13 Wednesday – Sam’s notebook: “Clemens, 7.30. Address, June 5” [NB 43 TS 16].Note: James Ross Clemens; see June 5.
At 30 Wellington Court in London, Sam wrote to Katharine Boland Clemens (Mrs. James Ross Clemens) that Livy was “shut up in her room with a deep cold on her chest” and would be unable to visit, but he would “bring her regrets in place of bringing HER this evening” [MTP].
June 14 Thursday – Sam’s notebook: “Several boxes of chocolate-cakes. / GOUT. JAP PLAY. / Plasmon 12?”
[NB 43 TS 16]. Note: it seems the Plasmon Co. held regular Thursday meetings.
At 30 Wellington Court in London, Sam wrote to The Royal Society for the Improvement of Natural Knowledge, a scientific group established in 1662.
“Mr. & Mrs. S.L. Clemens accept with pleasure the kind invitation of the President of the Royal Society for Wednesday, June 20th at 9 p.m.” [MTP].
June 15 Friday – Sam’s notebook: “When you climb the hill of happiness, may you never meet a friend. / Beefsteak Club 9 Green st., Leicester after 3” [NB 43 TS 16].
June 16 Saturday – Sam’s notebook: “Ask Mac[Alister] about R.S.V.P. Royal Society / & GOUT / ANSWER LANG. / Irving’s Opening. ” [NB 43 TS 16]. Note: No recent incoming is extant from Andrew Lang. Sam may have been referring to the upcoming July 17 opening of The Merchant of Venice at the Lyceum Theatre, which ran to July 28; Irving played Shylock; Ellen Terry played Portia.
June 17 Sunday – Sam’s notebook: “The Earl of Jersey. Tea; also dinner / Osterley. Park Station. Leave Vic., — 4.11 (4.11) Earls Ct 4.26 (change?) (at Mill Hill Park?) / Return. Lv. Osterly / Lv. Osterley 10.47 / (Change at Mill Hill Park [)]” [NB 43 TS 16-17]. Note: Victor Albert George Child Villiers, 7th Earl of Jersey (1845–1915), banker, Conservative politician, and Governor of New South Wales (1891-1893).
June 18 Monday – Sam’s notebook: “Plasmon 12? / Phil May. 9.30” [NB 43 TS 17].
June 19 Tuesday – Sam’s notebook: “£5 Enid / Cox & Co—tailor. Order. BLACK PANTS / Will langs come, 5? LANG / NOON—Hulse. / 18 Stanhope Gardens / Mrs. Halsey, 8. Ask Mr. Chapin for the address./ Hannover 1 or 2” [NB 43 TS 17]. Note: Enid Stoker. Mrs. Halsey not further identified. Robert Chapin. Square after “Hannover” drawn in = Hannover Square.
June 20 Wednesday – Sam’s notebook: “Joseph Pulitzer, 1.30—8 Chesterfield Gardens Curzon st. / Royal Society, 9. (pm?) Burlington House” [NB 43 TS 17].
Sam and Livy had been invited by the Royal Society to a gathering at 9 p.m. on this evening. He accepted on June 14.
June 21 Thursday – Sam’s notebook: “Seton Thompson. / MacArthur—1.15. Berkeley Restaurant. / CALL at 22 Wilton st (Bridge) about 5. / Mrs. Clemens, Mrs. Bigelow / Plasmon 12? / Lady Trelawney 13 Lancaster Gate W.—10 p.m. / 5 lb. PLASMON” [NB 43 TS 17].
June 22 Friday – Sam’s notebook: “H.L. Trower 9 Bryanston St . Kinsmen, 8 Willis’s Rooms King st St James’s Penley’s. Go to MacA 20 H at 12.45. / Then to GOERTZ” [NB 43 TS 18].
At 30 Wellington Court in London, Sam wrote to Joe Twichell.
June 23 Saturday – The New York Times article, “New Volumes of Fiction,” included a section, “Stories and Essays by Mark Twain,” p. BR1, which gives insight into the regard the nation held for Mark Twain at this time:
June 24 Sunday – Sam’s notebook: “Athenaeum Club, Pall Mall—8 o’clock. / Percy Fitzgerald. / (Dickens Club.) / Lord James of Hereford / Lord Acton / Mr. Birrell, M.P. / Mr. H. Dickens, Q.C. / Marcus Stone, R.A. / Call Bergheim / Halsey” [NB 43 TS 18].
During their stay at Dollis Hill, Sam resumed work on “The Chronicle of Young Satan” that he’d begun in Vienna [F. Kaplan 579].
June 25 Monday – Sam’s notebook: “TEA. H. of C T. / Penley, Grt. Queen St theatre? / Plasmon 12? / TEA with Provand M.P. See 27th. / MacMillan 52 Cadogan Place (8—then theatre ” [NB 43 TS 18]. Note: Alexander Dryburgh Provand (1839–1915), Scottish Liberal Party politician and Member of Parliament (MP) for Glasgow Blackfriars and Hutchesontown (1886-1900).
June 26 Tuesday – Sam’s notebook: “ McClure—to meet Philpots? No answer? / The Halls— 10 p.m. / Muriel Elliot, 3 p.m. / Concert. ? / 8 Salle Erard 18 Gt. Marlboro st W. / PLASMON 11 Cornhill, 12 noon. ” [NB 43 TS 19].