October 27 Thursday – In Hartford, Sam wrote to Charles Webster, asking if he had the “old cut” of a form-card for printing which answered that Sam had “quitted the platform permanently”; Sam wanted 300 printed on white cards like the one he enclosed, monogram not needed [MTP].

Sam wrote twice to James R. Osgood. Both letters deal with P&P’s release and his possible need to go to Toronto to protect Canadian copyright. In this letter Sam expresses satisfaction about the advance reviews of the book:

It seems to me that if we are going to start out with Howells in the Tribune & House in the Atlantic, we go mighty well fixed. Howells’s review pleases me vastly. The praise & the dispraise sound equally candid & sincere; & both are stated so forcibly & backed up by such clear reasoning, that future reviewers will find it difficult to get away from the influence exerted upon their minds by this critique. It is a mint-stamp; it will be hard to rub out [MTP].

Sam’s second letter dealt with the risks of printing in Canada, where sheets might be bought or stolen, with a pirated edition then produced. Sam again noted Howells’ review of P&P… “it will pitch the key for the rest of the American criticisms” [MTLTP 143].

On or about this day, Sam wrote to Kate D. Barstow, enclosing a check for $25 [MTP, referred to in Kate’s Oct. 29]. Note: this allows two days mail from Hartford to Washington.

Charles Webster wrote to Sam, clarifying his previous “obtuse” letter about getting investment money in NYC for the typesetter [MTP]