June 3 Saturday – Johann Strauss II (1825-1899) died of double pneumonia. Sam had met him in Vienna.
Strauss’ widow on June 6.
In an interview with the London Daily Chronicle, “Mark Twain in London,” p.3, Clemens reported “he was in London to arrange for the publication of a twenty-two volume de luxe edition of his writings” [MTHHR 399 n2; MTCI 334-39].
May 28 Sunday – The Clemens family rested at Prince of Thurn und Taxis’ country estate outside of Prague [Dolmetsch 312].
May 26 Friday – In Vienna, Austria, Sam replied to Sydney G. Trist, secretary of the London Anti-Vivisection Society , enclosing a typed page by Dr. Stephen F. Smith , read before the National Individualist Club in 1898 about the use of curare in vivisection. Trist’s letter is not extant.
May 24 Wednesday – At the Hotel Krantz in Vienna, Austria, Sam wrote to Dr. James R. Clemens, sharing their plans to leave Vienna on May 26 and to stay the Prince of Wales Hotel, Kensington, upon their arrival in England. The Clemens family intended to travel by daylight trains only [MTP].
Sam also wrote to Francis H. Skrine, another who had invited the Clemenses to stay with them upon arrival in London (invitation not extant):
May 23 Tuesday – In Vienna, Austria, Sam cabled Chatto & Windus: “COMING BY CALAIS DOVER SHALL REACH PRICE WALES HOTEL ABOUT FIRST JUNE PLEASE GIVE THEM NOTICE” [MTP].
Sam also wrote a short invitation for Eduard Pötzl to dine on May 24 at 8 p.m. [MTP].
Sam also wrote a one sentence reply to an unidentified person: “It is not an inconvenience to me, but a pleasure to comply” [MTP].
May 22 Monday – At the Hotel Krantz in Vienna, Austria, Sam replied to John Y. MacAlister, who had written an offer (not extant) for a place for the Clemenses to stay upon their arrival in London.
I thank you ever so much for your kind offer, but as we shall be in London a couple of months only, it will no doubt be handiest to stay in a hotel.
We intend to try the Prince of Wales hotel in De Vere Gardens Kensington & see how we like it.
May 19 Friday – Robert Buchanan wrote to Sam from London on a mourning border. He was pleased to see Sam’s handwriting after having “influenza, pneumonia and other devilries” for several months, and had a “reverent affection” for him [MTP]. Note: the hand is tiny and often illegible.
May 15 Monday – In Vienna, Austria, Sam wrote to Richard Watson Gilder.
“Why hang it, my note about the shipwreck narrative [Hornet] was only a feeler. I was meaning to protect you from all possible editorial embarrassment—in case you ever have any of that” [MTP: Dawson’s Book Shop catalogs, Oct. 1934, Item 50].
May 13 Saturday – At the Hotel Krantz in Vienna, Austria, Sam finished his May 12 letter to William Dean Howells. Livy and Theodor Leschetizky and an “English lady” chaperoned a group of 24 young people to Semmering, a lower-Austrian town famous for its skiing. Sam wrote it took three hours each way and he had little interest in going.
May 12 Friday - At the Hotel Krantz in Vienna, Austria, Sam began a letter to William Dean Howells that he finished on May 13. In his first paragraph at 11 a.m. he apologized for Howells not being selected to write the Introduction for Sam’s Uniform Edition and castigated Frank Bliss for his “stupid uneconomical economy” in refusing to pay Howells’ price ($1,500).
“Damn these human beings; if I had invented them I would go hide my head in a bag.”