November – Gribben writes,

At the end of a list of books that Clemens read in London in November 1896 appears “2 Years in F. — Lytton Forbes” (NB 37, TS 26). Subsequently he quoted from Forbes’ book (merely citing “Forbes’s ‘Two Years in Fiji’”) in chapter 8 of FE (1897), where he presented Forbes’s account of two foreigners who mysteriously appeared in Fiji and whose homeland could never be determined. [235] Note: Arthur Forbes, Two Years in Fiji (1875).

October 31 Saturday – In London Sam wrote to Chatto & Windus.

Am very much obliged. I enclose the house-rent cheque drawn to your order, for £90.2.0. I believe this completes the payment of the house-rent for the first 6 months. Mr. Garth’s address is — — — damn, I’ve begun on the wrong page — is / 3 Polstead Road / Oxford.

Sam added after his signature a request for them to tell any inquirers that he was “entirely out of the lecture field” [MTP].

October 26 Monday – At the Tedworth Square house in Chelsea, London, Sam began work on the manuscript of Following the Equator [Dec. 18 to Rogers]. Note: he may have started even earlier, as he added a note to Bliss on Oct. 21 that he was working on it.

He also wrote to Chatto & Windus, supposed they hadn’t received the Bourget-Max O’Rell article he’d sent by messenger. He had another piece for them:

October 24 Saturday – In London Sam wrote in his notebook:

Wrote the first chapter of the book to-day — Around the World [MTB 1026; NB 39 TS 14]. Note: FE.

October 22 Thursday – Gribben writes that Sam discovered the book The History of a Slave (not further identified) in the London Library [315; NB 39 TS 32]. Also found, Sir Basil Home Thomson’s The Diversions of a Prime Minister (1894) [702; NB 39 TS 12]. Sam also noted he’d withdrawn a copy of William Knighton’s The Private Life of an Eastern King, etc. from the London Library [Ibid.]. See also Jan.

October 20 Tuesday – In London Sam wrote to Chatto & Windus about material (unspecified) he’d sent, asking them to “look it over & see if it will do.” After his signature, some clue as to what he’d sent:

This Diary is full of underscorings (for use on the platform) PAY NO ATTENTION TO THEM [MTP].

Sam also wrote to H.H. Rogers.

October 2 Friday – In London, Sam wrote a short note to Percy Spalding:

No, we’ll not have the contract stamped. Disagreements & misunderstandings between the Garths & us are not possible. We are two pairs of constitutionally just & fair-minded people [MTP: TS: Anderson Auction Co. catalogs, Nov. 25, 1930 Item 48].

September 30 Wednesday – In London Sam wrote to Susan Crane.

September 28 Monday – In London, Sam continued to respond to letters of condolence, including this answer to Henry C. Robinson, Hartford attorney and family friend.

It is as you say, dear old friend, “the pathos of it” — yes, it was a piteous thing — as piteous a tragedy as any the year can furnish. …All the circumstances of this death were pathetic — my brain is worn to rags rehearsing them. Yes, & cursing them — cursing the conception & invention of them. …

September 26 Saturday – Sam’s notebook for this day: