April 11 Saturday – Howells sent a brief letter of introduction for Sergei M. Stepnyak (Sergei Mikhailovich Kravchinski). “I am sure you and he will not fail to be great friends” [MTHL 2: 643]. The source notes identify Kravchinski as a “Russian Nihilist and exile,” who wrote under the pseudonym Stepnyak (Often spelled Stepniak). In Nov. 1888, Howells had issued a positive review of Stepnyak’s The Russian Peasant. Stepnyak lectured on Siberian exiles, Tolstoi, and the need for revolution in Russia [n1].

Frederick J. Hall gained Mrs. Grant’s consent to “our taking the Grant sheets we have on hand, binding two volumes into one and selling it for $2.00” [MTNJ 3: 612n139]. Note: this was not done until 1894. Hall also touched on assorted matters in this one page typed letter. Mr. Rosenquest and Hall recalled sending all the old Am. Pub.Co.contracts they had in their possession (Sam must have asked for them again); Hall was promised a loan of $15,000 for two years by May 1; he agreed with Sam that they did not need the Mrs. Carlyle book, nor any other English book at this time, since they’d published one English book, Herbert Ward’s and had a set of plates for George R. Simm’s last book — these were enough to “experiment with.” He also reported that the $2 edition of the Sherman book “apparently interfered very little with the two volume edition as both are selling quite well” [MTP]. See 1891 books published by Webster & Co.

C.L. Stillman for Langdon & Co. sent Sam a draft for $5 interest and a memorandum of bond calculations for the Clearfield bonds [MTP].