April 23 Monday – Intended U.S. publication date for Mark Twain’s Library of Humor [Mar. 7 to Chatto].
Frederick J. Hall for Webster & Co. wrote a note to Sam that his “favor received and contents noted. Will you kindly let me know when you will be here?” Hall had to move on Apr. 26-27 [MTP].
April 24 Tuesday – Francis Hopkinson Smith sent Sam a humorous and clever way of announcing the date of the Water Color Dinner, May 3 — An oversized “Bondsmen’s Oath” certificate with official “seal” and Hopkinson’s signature testified to the ticket as his property [MTP]. See Apr. 27.
April 27 Friday – Sam may have gone for a short ride with Livy in the morning (see Apr. 28 to Crane). He then went to New York alone, Livy still too weak to travel. This is the likely day he met with Robert Louis Stevenson in Washington Square. Stevenson remembered in his Apr. 16, 1893 letter to Sam,
April 28 Saturday – Likely Sam made a trip to Hartford to check on Livy, then returned to New York (since he wrote to Susan L. Crane from Hartford on this day and spoke at the Edwin Booth breakfast on Apr. 29). To Susan:
Dear Aunt Sue, the trout arrived in perfect condition. They furnished Livy 3 unsurpassable meals, & the rest of the family shoved in & took a chance too….
April 29 Sunday – In New York, Sam spoke at a breakfast for Edwin Booth. Henry Irving was host at this gathering of Kinsmen Club. Charles Dudley Warner, Thomas Bailey Aldrich, Whitelaw Reid, Lester Wallack, and William Winter attended [Fatout, MT Speaking 658].
April 30 Monday – Annie M. Webster wrote on a small slip to Sam that she had received enclosed Mollie Clemens to Annie Webster Apr. 29 letter the day before and thought part might interest him [MTP].
May 1 Tuesday – Edward H. House wrote to Sam
May 2 Wednesday – In Hartford Sam wrote to Elmira photographer Elisha M. Van Aken asking him to send two pictures “Wide Awake” and “Fast Asleep” to Miss Winnie Dawson, in care of Dawson Brothers, Montreal. Sam added the note:
May 3 Thursday – In the wee hours burglars entered the Clemens Farmington St. home and made off with a few misc. articles.
May 4 Friday – In Hartford Sam began a short note to Annie Eliot Trumbull, mostly in German, that he finished the next day, May 5. Annie was the daughter of James Hammond and Sarah Trumbull.
May 5 Saturday – Frederick J. Hall for Webster & Co. wrote to Sam asking if it was too late to do anything about the William Thompson Walters art book. He also enclosed “a letter and also two chapters from a manuscript by Maj. Gen. O.O. Howard” — possibly Howard’s My Life and Experiences published by A.D. Worthington of Hartford in about 1907 [MTHL 2: 246n1&5].
May 6 Sunday – Miss Winifred G. Dawson wrote from St. Jerome, Canada that she “was very glad to hear from father that” Sam had not forgotten his “old time young friend” (Age 16). She asked for pictures of his cats and wrote about hers [MTP]. Note: Samuel E. Dawson was the young lady’s father.
May 7 Monday – In Hartford Sam wrote to Frederick J. Hall, principally about the Walters art collection book and the possible 700 to 800 thousand profit for a book “infinitely grander and finer than any ever issued in any country in the world.” Sam figured the book would sell 600 in American and 600 in Europe at $1,000 a copy. William Mackay Laffan was to be the sole canvasser, making $100 per sale.
May 8 Tuesday – Francis Hopkinson Smith wrote to Sam that it was “delicious to know” he was “all light” with a “copper lining” after a recent feast [MTP].
May 9 Wednesday – John Roddye wrote to ask Sam’s help to get his 950-line poem published [MTP].
May 10 Thursday – Charles J. Langdon wrote to Sam, enclosing a draft for $3,649.85 [MTP].
M.N. Mallison, a journalist, wrote from Brooklyn asking to see Sam; he was going to London in June and wanted “a little advise concerning persons and things in London” [MTP].
May 11 Friday – L.H. Hallock of Portland, Maine wrote a follow up hoping to “receive a word from you touching ‘National Reforms’ for our Congregational Club” [MTP].
May 12 Saturday – Frederick J. Hall wrote to Sam:
“I have made the corrections in the letter to General Howard, and it will go forward to-day” [MTHL 2: 246n6]. Hall also informed: “The ‘Library of American Literature,’ ten volumes, is going well…. I think this book is going to pan out big eventually, as the results attained so far have come without any particular pushing” [MTNJ 3: 361]. Note: The sales of this work were always disappointing, not offsetting the costs.
May 13 Sunday – Zadel Barnes Gustafson wrote from N.Y. to Sam asking to borrow $5,000 [MTP].
May 14 Monday – Sam’s notebook: 4143, Wm Bryan & sons May 14. — $80.20 [MTNJ 3: 385].
Miss Winifred G. Dawson wrote from Montreal to thank Sam for the picture of his cats [MTP].
Webster & Co., per Frederick J. Hall wrote to Sam that Dr. Wallace Wood, author of The Hundred Greatest Men had been by with an idea for a series of greatest lawyers, theologians, etc. [MTP].
May 15 Tuesday – Hartford doctor Nathan Mayer wrote to thank Sam. “May Mrs. Clemens be much benefited and strengthened” [MTP].
Andrew Chatto wrote to Sam: “I have replied to Herr von Kirschbaum of Posen, whose letter you sent me informing him on your behalf that we would give him authority to translate” P&P “into German for the small sum of £15” [MTP].
May 16 Wednesday – John Habberton (1842-1921), for 20 years the literary and dramatic critic for the N.Y. Herald, and author of the Sam-detested Helen’s Babies (1876), wrote to Sam offering a 100,000 word war book, “with scarcely a sign of a battle in it, but full of life and incidents over which the old boys of both armies chat most” [MTNJ 3: 390n308]. Sam, no doubt prejudiced by Habberton’s earlier work, declined.
May 17 Thursday – Frederick J. Hall for Webster & Co. wrote to Sam: “Your favor received, also the watch. We will pay the Burton bill, the bill for composition and electrotyping on the Burton book, and also send you invoice for the watch. We have forwarded a copy of ‘The Library of Humor’.” Other finances were discussed [MTP]. Note: Richard E. Burton.
May 18 Friday – Charles R. Brown for American Magazine wrote asking Sam his views on the passage of the “Chase International Copy-right Bill” [MTP].
Helen M. Dove wrote a begging letter to Sam asking him not to consider her a beggar! [MTP].
E.J. Hamersley wrote to Sam; most of it is illegible [MTP].
Webster & Co., per Arthur H. Wright wrote a note of the $5,694.05 bank balances to Sam [MTP].
May 19 Saturday – Frederick J. Hall for Webster & Co. wrote Sam a long letter about “certain glaring defects in the organization of our Subscription Department.” He objected to the manners and appearance of W.E. Dibble, hired by Webster, and urged he be replaced. With Webster gone, Hall felt he could not give much time to the subscription department.