July 27 Friday – At Dollis Hill House in London, England Sam wrote to Miss Helen F. Levy, Franconia, N.H.
“The signature in that telegram is genuine, but I think the date is an error. Whenever we can get half of a thing genuine let us be content, & hope it will not happen often enough to become monotonous” [MTP]. Note: neither Miss Levy nor the telegram are further identified
July 28 Wednesday – Sam’s notebook:
July 28. There was no hot weather for breakfast this morning. When we looked out over the lake we found that three great mountain forms along the range that is back from the water were draped down to their shoulders in snow. This royal ermine reveals their rank. They are much higher than Pilatus. We had not supposed that. Pilatus has not a flake on him [NB 42 TS 22].
Andrew Chatto wrote to Sam, letter not extant but referred to in July 30 to Chatto.
July 28 Thursday – In Kaltenleutgeben, Austria, Sam wrote a short note to Siegmund Schlesinger, advising that a MS “written in an unfamiliar hand” was “at a heavy disadvantage.” Sam recommended his MS be sent to Miss V. Kendler in Vienna to be typed. Sam offered to pay the cost [MTP]. Note: Sam collaborated on two comedy plays with Schlesinger and this was likely one. Neither play was performed and both are lost.
July 28 Saturday – At Dollis Hill House in London, England Sam wrote to John Campbell Gordon (1847-1934), aka Marquess of Aberdeen:
July 29 Thursday – In Weggis, Switzerland Sam wrote to Franklin G. Whitmore in Hartford. The Farmington Ave. house was not to be rented; “it is withdrawn from the field.” Sam also sent congratulations for the Whitmore’s making “the rank of grand-parents,” and sent the family’s love, “Also, love to the boys of my set” [MTP].
July 29 Friday – In Kaltenleutgeben, Austria, Sam wrote to Poultney Bigelow, this year a correspondent for the London Times during the Spanish-American War. On May 23 in Tampa, Florida, Bigelow wrote an article exposing the unpreparedness of American troops for combat which ran in Harper’s Weekly. He was denounced as unpatriotic. An excerpt of Bigelow’s article:
THE CONDITION OF THE ARMY
Who Is Responsible ?
July 29 Saturday – The New York Times, p.BR500:
Mark Twain’s Editions in London
July 29 Sunday – Lina W. Berle wrote from Boscawen, N.H. to Sam after having read JA for the fourth time; she liked it better each reading. She was a senior at Salem High School there [MTP].
July 3 Saturday – At 23 Tedworth Square in London, Sam replied to Florence Hayward, London foreign correspondent, whom he had turned down on Jan. 29 for an interview. Her request is not extant.
“Perhaps I could be interviewed a little—just a little—for the St. Louis Republic, but not for an English paper, because I have declined them all, including the Pall Mall, & must not stultify myself now.”
July 3 Monday – Paine writes of a switch in hats between Twain and Basil Wilberforce at T. Douglas Murray’s (1841-1911) luncheon this day (except that he confuses July 3 with the period shortly after the Clemenses arrived in London):
July 3 Tuesday – Sam’s notebook: “Wiberforce afternoon, 4-to read a paper on Joan of Arc. / Drove home afterwards” [NB 43 TS 20].
July 30 Friday – In Weggis, Switzerland Sam wrote to Andrew Chatto, whose letter of July 28 cleared up some confusion on proofs and revisions of FE, and Sam’s purpose for wanting copies.
July 30 Sunday – In Sanna, Sweden Sam wrote to Phyl:
July 31 Saturday – In Weggis, Switzerland Sam wrote to Chatto & Windus, questioning why postage was repaid on a foreign letter; that “Surely that must be an unnecessary expense. / …a fully-paid foreign postage ought to chase a man all over the globe without extra cost” [MTP].
July 31 Monday – In Sanna, Sweden Sam and Livy wrote condolences to Charles M. and Mary P. Fairbanks on the death of their mother, Mary Mason Fairbanks (died Dec. 8, 1898 in Providence R.I.).
Sam explained he could not write earlier for lack of her address [MTMF 279 for Sam’s; MTP for Livy’s enclosed].
Sam also wrote again to Phyl, noted as “an autograph collector.”
Dear Phyl:
July 31 Tuesday – At Dollis Hill House in London, England Sam wrote to Richard Watson Gilder regarding a cable sent previously.
July 4 Sunday – At 23 Tedworth Square in London, Sam wrote to Chatto & Windus, advising that they were leaving England “early in the morning the 9th ,” and asking if their “inventory man” would come on July 6. He also asked for the company messenger to pick up the rest of the finished (typed) manuscript, “both the original, for you, & the typed copy” he wished to be sent to H.H. Rogers, 26 Broadway, N.Y.C [MTP].
July 4 Monday – Hartford leading men A.C. Dunham (Austin Cornelius Dunham) and Dr. Edwin Pond Parker visited the Clemens family for three days this week. Which days is not clear, but Sam wrote to Whitmore on July 9 that the pair was there when news came of the July 3 defeat of the Spanish fleet under Admiral Pascual Cervera y Topete at the Battle of Santiago. [July 9 to Whitmore]. Note: this is also supported by the following notebook entry.
July 4 Tuesday – In London, England, Sam wrote to Mrs. William Manning, declining some invitation—it would “break my rule & I must not do it,” he wrote. He thanked her and Mr. Manning in Livy’s behalf and his own for their offers of hospitality [MTP].
July 4 Wednesday – Sam’s notebook: “Lord Chief Justice 8.15.? / Went thence to 4th July banquet at hotel Cecil, arriving at 11.45, & made a speech—half the people had gone” [NB 43 TS 20].
July 5 Monday – At 23 Tedworth Square in London, Sam wrote to an unidentified man that due to their change of plans there was no available time, so forgive him [MTP].
July 5 Wednesday – At the Prince of Wales Hotel in London, England, Sam wrote to an unidentified man (likely a photographer) asking him not to “risk the photos by sending them here,” as he was leaving England for the summer. He directed they be sent to Chatto & Windus and gave their address [MTP].
July 5 Thursday
Sam attended a reception for the US Minister to the Court of St. James, Joseph H. Choate. Later Clemens made a speech at the Hotel Cecil for the American Society. His letter of July 8 to Richard Watson Gilder lists this day’s activities:
July 6 Tuesday – At 23 Tedworth Square in London, Sam telegraphed to James B. Pond “Make it 9 tomorrow” [MTP]. Note: In his July 7 to Moffett, Sam wrote, “Yesterday [July 6] I arranged with Pond to go home & lecture all the fall & winter—provided your aunt Livy should consent.” This makes it likely that Pond and Sam exchanged more communiqués and did not meet at 9 a.m. on July 7, but sometime on this day, July 6.
July 6 Wednesday – In Kaltenleutgeben, Austria, Sam replied to a letter, statistics, and a check from Chatto & Windus (theirs not extant). The book statistics were exactly what he wanted. The check was “beyond expectations large—would the English government “raid it with an income tax” if they deposited it in a London bank? Sam asked Chatto to check on two plays he’d translated and sent to people in London—did they still have the plays?