February – In Vienna, Austria, Sam inscribed an aphorism on his photo (taken by “the official court photographer,” Julius Löwy) to Friedrich Eckstein:“It is one’s human environment / that makes climate. / Truly Yours / Mark Twain / With kindest salutations / from S.L. Clemens / Feb. 1898” [MTP; Dolmetsch 273]. Note: See Dolmetsch 270-3, including this portrait on p. 271. Eckstein met the Clemenses when he stayed with the Charles Dudley Warner’s “in the early 1880s”.
Life in Exile: Day By Day
February – Sometime during this month Sam wrote Richard Watson Gilder, directing him to take the Hornet article, name the price himself, and send the check to Whitmore [MTP].
February 19 Friday – Sam’s notebook:
Feb. 19/97. Lunched with the Henry M. Stanleys. Anecdote by Mrs. Tennant of the American who wanted his portrait painted by Sir John Millais.
Dennis McCartney’s description of Jim Townsend’s voice—“A strong bass—immensely powerful—but raucous, reedy, raspy—sort of a horse-fly voice, you know.[”]
February 19 Sunday – At the Hotel Krantz in Vienna, Austria, Sam replied to H.H. Rogers, after receiving another letter (not extant) with profitable stock news:
February – Sam also wrote an aphorism to Alfred E. Mann. “Never do wrong when people are looking” [MTP].
February 2 Tuesday – At 23 Tedworth Square in London, Sam wrote to Horatio David Davies (1842-1912) this year London businessman and politician who became Lord Mayor of London this year. Sam declined to dine on Mar. 2 with the Lord Mayor, “obliged by reason of family affliction to decline”
[MTP]. Note: Sam was still in mourning, or at least avoiding public contact. Davies established Pimms (cocktail) as an international brand name.
February 2 Wednesday – Sam’s notebook: “Wednesday, Feb. 2. Our wedding anniversary—28 years married. The first sorrow came in the first year—the death of Livy’s father. Our Susy died August 18, 1896—the cloud is permanent, now” [NB 40 TS 8]. Note: Sam omitted the death of his son, Langdon, from this list.
February 2 Thursday – At the Hotel Krantz in Vienna, Austria, Sam wrote to Frank Bliss.
Yes, I like the photogravure of our house; I have never seen a finer and more vivid piece of work. There’s as much as 100,000 words for the volume of Sketches—say half as much more as Huck Finn or
February 20 Saturday – The London Athenaeum p. 244 reviewed TS,D: “The title story is a disappointment, ‘How to Tell a Story’ does not make its case, and the chapters on Paul Bourget “hardly seem worth reprinting” [Tenney 26].
February 20 Sunday – At the Hotel Metropole in Vienna, Austria, Sam wrote to Laurence Hutton referring to Hutton’s Dec. 14 letter which he started to answer then but didn’t send. He found Hutton’s letter “amidst the disorder of my table at this moment” and so answered. He thanked Hutton for his review of FE (Jan.
February 20 Tuesday – At 30 Wellington Court in London, England Sam sent an aphorism to Alfred E. Ann (b.1851) in Finsbury, a borough of London. “We ought never to do wrong when people are looking” [MTP]. Note: Ann is listed as a mine owner and owner of Mining and Scientific Press, a journal of mining, popular science and General news. See Feb. 23 to and from Ann.
February 21 Monday – Vienna, Austria: Clemens wrote a “Memorandum” and “Note” about his play, Is He Dead? [Univ. of Calif. Press 2003].
February 22 Monday – J.A. O’Brien wrote from Sydney, Aus. to Sam. The short note is half illegible, but refers to a tribute which “should be framed in gold.” He wrote he was “nobody” [MTP].
February 22 Tuesday – At the Hotel Metropole in Vienna, Austria, Sam wrote to Walter Besant (1836-1901), London novelist, historian, and literary critic, who had reviewed FE in the Feb. issue of Munsey. Besant also wrote for the journal Queen.
It makes me very proud—I have just read it in Munsey for February.
February 22 Thursday – At 30 Wellington Court in London, England Sam wrote to Frank Bliss.
I suppose that when Whitmore called on you for asphalt money he did as before—brought you a written order from me. In that case it is all right & regular, but I have no recollection of sending him any such order. Did he bring you such an order? Please tell me; my memory may be at fault….
February 23 Tuesday – At 23 Tedworth Square in London, Sam wrote to William Dean Howells. He thanked Howells for his “splendid phrases, so daringly uttered & so warmly” in his review of the first five volumes in Harper’s of Mark Twain’s “Uniform Edition” (HF, LM, P&P, CY, TSA, TSD).
February 23 Wednesday – Michael Henry Dziewicki replied to Sam from Cracow, Austria, thanking him for his “kind letter”; he’d been busy so had taken awhile to answer. About meeting—there was a chance that he’d be passing through Vienna, but if his novel (unspecified) “really proves a success” he’d prefer to spend his vacation in England.
February 23 Friday – Sam’s notebook: “To the pure all things are impure” [NB 43 TS 6].
At 30 Wellington Court in London, England Sam wrote to Alfred E. Ann, having second thoughts about another letter [not extant] he had sent.
February 24 Thursday – A contract signed between Sam and Siegmund Schlesinger concerning the management of a comedy play they’d collaborated on, “Der Gegencandidat, or Woman in Politics” bears this date. The contract itself was in Sam’s hand [MTHHR 317n2].
A detailed review in Neue Freie Presse praised “Stirring Times in Austria,” which ran in the March 1898 issue of Harper’s [Dolmetsch 270].
February 24 Friday – Douglas M. Gane inscribed his book New South Wales and Victoria in 1885: “To Samuel L. Clemens, Esq., with compliments, from Douglas M. Gane, 24, 2, 99” [MTP]. See Gribben p. 251.
February 24 Saturday – Sam’s notebook: “Unposted Letters. The letter as finally sent” [NB 43 TS 6].
February 25 Friday – Katharine I. Harrison wrote to Sam, enclosing copies of creditor letters of thanks. Katharine thanked him for sending FE which arrived “a few days since” [MTHHR 323 and n1]. Note: more creditor letters, dated Mar. 4 to Apr.16, 1898 would follow; a prior batch of these had been sent on Jan.7 and another would be sent on Apr. 26.
James Whitcomb Riley wrote from Indianapolis to Sam, complimenting him on FE:
February 25 Saturday – At the Hotel Krantz in Vienna, Sam wrote to Richard Watson Gilder.
I have abandoned my Autobiography, & am not going to finish it; but I took a reminiscent chapter out of it some time ago & had it copyrighted & had it type-written, thinking it would make a readable magazine article; & sent it to my friend H.H. Rogers, 26 Broadway.
February 26 Friday – At 23 Tedworth Square in London, Sam wrote to H.H. Rogers, “nervous about the contracts” since Frank Bliss had delayed signing. Bliss’ contract specified an advance, non-refundable advance of $10,000 on Sam’s new book, (FE). Sam confessed to not being “strenuous now” and suggested they grant concessions should Bliss want them. He was pondering a good offer from a London publisher for FE, and wanted “to strike Chatto for a new and better arrangement,” but not until Bliss signed.
February 26 Saturday – At the Hotel Metropole in Vienna, Austria, Sam wrote to Chatto & Windus, having resolved the Gordon-Cumming matter in his own mind after seeing the original and subsequent revisions.
“I guess we’ve ‘got’ the late Cummings’s [sic Cumming’s] sensitive relative. I have sent your letter to him, & written him…”
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