August 25 Wednesday – In Elmira Sam wrote to Frederick J. Hall. He didn’t care whether a Mr. Horace King was good or not — he gave Hall his power of attorney to unload all interests in Kaolatype to King [MTLTP 204-5]. Note: Sam’s losses from Kaolatype, an engraving process, amounted to $50,000 [A. Hoffman 302]. Horace King of Thompsonville, Conn. had applied to buy the rights for the process. The sale was still under consideration in mid-November [MTNJ 3: 265n129]. The sale did not take place [MTLTP 205n1].

Sam also wrote to George Standring responding to his Aug. 12 letter. He asked Standring for information about typesetting compositors in London, similar to what he had sought in the U.S. — what was paid for composition per 100 ems in the various London papers and book-printers, also in Liverpool, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Dublin, Paris & Berlin? Sam was thinking worldwide sales for the Paige, and needed such information to adapt marketing efforts. He thanked Standring “in advance for the book,” (People’s History of the English Aristocracy (1887), which became an important source-book for CY) and closed by plugging his new “Wirt” fountain pen, which didn’t seem to dry out even when “left open by the week.”

The day of the “stylographic” is done — it must retire to its proper place among the obsolete inventions [MTP]. Note: See Nov. 24, 1889 entry for a book by Standring, which Sam wanted Webster & Co. To publish. See also Gribben 656.