October 25 Wednesday – At 30 Wellington Court (Albert Gate) in London, Sam wrote to H. Walter Barnett, photographer, complimenting him on recent pictures taken, writing that they “have the distinctions of their predecessors,” and that Barnett didn’t seem to know how to make a bad one [MTPO].

Note: this letter, previously mislabeled as C.W. Barnett, has been corrected by the MTPO. To H. Walter Barnett. this photographer established Falk studios in Sydney, Austrailia a few years before and then returned to London this year, becoming a leading society photographer. Sam had family portraits done in Australia by Barnett and would have been familiar with his work; his remark about “predecessors” would fit this connection. See Sept. 19 and 30, 1895 entries, Vol 2.

Frank Bliss wrote to Sam.

Your letter of the 1st came duly to hand; also letter from Chatto & Windus, which I have replied to to-day, and told him that we are hustling things along on the English Edition, and we hope to be able to make first shipment of books the first week in November.

I am glad you have got back to England again, for it seems as if you were more within reach… The application for ROUGHING IT copyright is received.

Bliss touched upon the question of no royalties paid to Harpers on English copies of the de luxe edition made for Chatto. The Harpers seemed friendlier now, “since the McClure people are interested, and things will go along much easier, I fancy” [MTP].