February 7 Wednesday – Frank Bliss replied to Sam’s of Jan. 16, and enclosed statements of books sold from July 1, 1899 to Jan 1, 1900, totaling $5,644.36 in royalties.

Yours of the 16th ult., [Jan.] came duly to hand a few days since, and we are glad to hear from you, and thank you very much for your kindly desire to help us over the rough places. … We had already paid Mr. Whitmore $1200.00 in cash, and in addition, with the one or two small payments made in the fall, making $1500.00 in cash that we have given to him.

Bliss had sent 250 of the 512 Uniform sets to Chatto and asked how those sales were going. The asphalt payment at the Farmington Ave. house had been taken care of. Where were the plates to “A Library of Humor?” Harper didn’t have them, and they’d had a few calls for the book—did Sam think “it might pay to get out a small edition of it”? [MTP].