Life in Exile: Day By Day

1896- 7 Winter – Several write-ups of an anecdote exist for James Abbott McNeil Whistler being taken in by Mark Twain over a painting. This by Wientraub places it during this winter and does not see it as their first meeting, as some do:

April 1 Friday – An unidentified person wrote in Polish to “The Great American Humorist”; only the envelope survives [MTP].

Fatout lists an unidentified dinner where Sam gave four speeches [MT Speaking 665]. Note: Fatout gives no particulars and none were found.

April 1 Saturday – In Vienna at an unspecified banquet, Sam made four speeches [Apr. 5 to Howells].

April 1 Sunday – At 30 Wellington Court in London, England Sam wrote to Sir William Martin Conway.

“I am dreadfully sorry, but we have but this moment returned from E.A. Abbey’s.

If I had known it was a birthday orgie I would have forseen that it would run late, but I had forgotten that detail. I hope we can go to the Cosmopolitan another night.”

April 10 Saturday – At 23 Tedworth Square in London, Sam wrote to Mr. Maxwell (not further identified), approving some unspecified action of Maxwell’s, which Sam thought a good idea: “What do I think of it? I think you did well & wisely” [MTP]. Note: Again this is a reply to an not-extant letter. It would seem that many incoming letters from this London period were not saved.

April 10 Sunday – Sam inscribed a copy of FE to James H. Scott: Mr. James H. Scott / with the

compliments & respects of / The Author. / Good friends, good books & a sleepy conscience: this is the ideal life. / Truly Yours / Mark Twain / Vienna, Apl. 10, 1898 [MTP].

April 10 Monday – At the Hotel Krantz in Vienna, Austria, Sam wrote to ask Chatto & Windus to send the 2-shilling, 6-pence edition of Omar Khayam [MTP].

April 10 Tuesday – Sam’s notebook: “Dillingham, Savoy, dinner, 7.30. / Marda. / She Stoops to Conquer. / Invite Doubleday & wife here to tea” [NB 43 TS 8].

Note: this entry was written & struck through on Apr. 7. Sam noted Oliver Goldsmiths’ (1728-1774) play, She Stoops to Conquer. Gribben speculates “conceivably he saw a performance of it around that time in London”

April 11 Monday – In Vienna, Austria, Sam wrote to Eupemia A. Suverkrop, an editor of American Machinist (New York; published continuously since 1877).

April 11 Tuesday – At the Hotel Krantz in Vienna, Austria Sam signed a notice in German to Chatto Windus. The notice is by another hand, perhaps that of an attorney, unnamed.

April 11 Wednesday – Sam’s notebook: “Made Director” [NB 43 TS 8]. Note: of the Plasmon Syndicate.

Paul Kester replied to Sam’s Mar. 24 suggestions:

April 12 Monday – The ledger books of Chatto & Windus show that 1,500 (3s.6d.) additional copies of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn were printed , totaling 32,500 [Welland 236].

April 12 Tuesday – At the Hotel Metropole in Vienna, Austria, Sam wrote two letters to George Barrow—however at the top is written: “(Disapproved by Mrs. C. & not sent).” Sam reacted to Barrow expecting interest on Sam’s debt to him, and referred him to H.H. Rogers [MTP]. For the full text of these unsent letters to Barrow, see MTHHR 341n1. Also see next to Rogers.

Sam also wrote to H.H. Rogers

April 12 Wednesday – At the Hotel Krantz in Vienna, Austria, Sam added to his Apr. 2, 5, 6 letter to William Dean Howells.

April 12 Thursday – In London, England Sam wrote to George B. Harvey, sending a table of contents for the proposed London and Tauchnitz editions of The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg and Other Stories. Sam wrote he’d “knocked out 42,000 words & left 130,000—an over-abundance still,” and gave Harvey, the new President of Harper & Brothers, permission to “knock out anything you want; & leave in anything you please” [MTP]. Note: the letter written on old Chatto & Windus letterhead.

April 13 Tuesday – London. Sam claimed another “finished” for FE [Apr. 14 to MacAlister]. Note: This was to be only a draft. Sam’s notebook also registered: “London, Apl. 13, ’97. I finished my book today” [NB 41 TS 21].

April 13 Thursday– At the Hotel Krantz in Vienna, Austria, Sam finished his Apr. 2, 5, 6, and 12 letter to William Dean Howells.

“13th I have been to the Knustausstelling [Art Exhibit] with Mrs. Clemens. The office of art seems to be, to grovel in the dirt before Emperors & this & that & the other damned breed of priests./ Yrs Ever / Mark” [MTP].

April 13 Friday – The Clemens family were at Henry M. Stanley’s country place for a “few days’ visit”. They returned to 30 Wellington Court by Apr. 17 [Apr. 17 to James]. Note: on Jan. 10, 1899 the Stanley’s took possession of a house named “Furze Hill” in Pirbright, Surrey, some 30 miles from London [The Autobiography of Henry M. Stanley, p.507 (1909)].

April 14 Wednesday – At 23 Tedworth Square in London, Sam wrote to Chatto & Windus: “Thank you ever so much. The madam wants another one—also a Huckleberry Finn. Will you send them?” [MTP].

Sam also wrote to John Y. MacAlister, that he’d finished his book the day before and that “The Madam edited this stuff out of it—on the ground that the first part is not delicate & that the last part is indelicate.” Would “the boys accept of condemned literature?” [MTP].

April 14 Saturday – The Clemens family were at Henry M. Stanley’s country place in Surrey.

Jonas Henrick Kellgren Osteopath, billed £10.10.0 for 25 visits to Apr. 14 for Jean’s treatments [1900 Financial file MTP].

April 15 Friday – At the Hotel Metropole in Vienna, Austria, Sam wrote to Arthur E. Gilbert, the pipe dealer in London, suggesting wording for his testimonial on what Gilbert wanted to call the “Mark Twain pipe.” Sam offered “It is the sweetest & cleanest of all pipes,” and then confessed under “Private” that “For weeks it was a terrible tongue-biter,” but after breaking it in he’d be in “bad shape indeed” should he lose it.

April 15 Saturday – At the Hotel Krantz in Vienna, Austria, Sam wrote to Frank Bliss, concerning the Apr. 3 letter of Charles R. Hall (enclosed):

April 15 Sunday – The Clemens family were at Henry M. Stanley’s country place in Surrey.

Insert: Furze Hill, Stanley’s Country Home

April 16 Friday – At 23 Tedworth Square in London, Sam wrote to H.H. Rogers, curiously heading it PS but with it’s own dateline, salutation and signoff. Was it intended as part of the Apr. 14 letter to Rogers and mailed at the same time?

April 16 Saturday – Literary Digest “ran a brief anonymous item noting the unanimous praise by the British press for MT’s paying off the last of the Webster and Company debts” [Tenney 28]