May 10 Wednesday – At the Hotel Krantz in Vienna, Austria, Sam wrote to Percy Spalding.
The telegram came last evening & was very welcome. It decided us at once. We shall reach London May 31, by way of Bremen & the steamer “Lahn” to Southampton.
May 11 Thursday – In his May 13 to William Dean Howells, Sam wrote of this evening:
Day before yesterday [May 13] the Harper came [May issue with another installment of Their Silver Wedding Journey by Howells], & in the evening I hunted it up & was lying on the sofa, & kept interrupting the family’s repose with laughter & chuckles. Finally Mrs. Clemens (very late, I thought) asked “What is it?”
“Portraits of you.”
“Where?”
May 12 Friday - At the Hotel Krantz in Vienna, Austria, Sam began a letter to William Dean Howells that he finished on May 13. In his first paragraph at 11 a.m. he apologized for Howells not being selected to write the Introduction for Sam’s Uniform Edition and castigated Frank Bliss for his “stupid uneconomical economy” in refusing to pay Howells’ price ($1,500).
“Damn these human beings; if I had invented them I would go hide my head in a bag.”
May 13 Saturday – At the Hotel Krantz in Vienna, Austria, Sam finished his May 12 letter to William Dean Howells. Livy and Theodor Leschetizky and an “English lady” chaperoned a group of 24 young people to Semmering, a lower-Austrian town famous for its skiing. Sam wrote it took three hours each way and he had little interest in going.
May 15 Monday – In Vienna, Austria, Sam wrote to Richard Watson Gilder.
“Why hang it, my note about the shipwreck narrative [Hornet] was only a feeler. I was meaning to protect you from all possible editorial embarrassment—in case you ever have any of that” [MTP: Dawson’s Book Shop catalogs, Oct. 1934, Item 50].
May 19 Friday – Robert Buchanan wrote to Sam from London on a mourning border. He was pleased to see Sam’s handwriting after having “influenza, pneumonia and other devilries” for several months, and had a “reverent affection” for him [MTP]. Note: the hand is tiny and often illegible.
May 22 Monday – At the Hotel Krantz in Vienna, Austria, Sam replied to John Y. MacAlister, who had written an offer (not extant) for a place for the Clemenses to stay upon their arrival in London.
I thank you ever so much for your kind offer, but as we shall be in London a couple of months only, it will no doubt be handiest to stay in a hotel.
We intend to try the Prince of Wales hotel in De Vere Gardens Kensington & see how we like it.
May 23 Tuesday – In Vienna, Austria, Sam cabled Chatto & Windus: “COMING BY CALAIS DOVER SHALL REACH PRICE WALES HOTEL ABOUT FIRST JUNE PLEASE GIVE THEM NOTICE” [MTP].
Sam also wrote a short invitation for Eduard Pötzl to dine on May 24 at 8 p.m. [MTP].
Sam also wrote a one sentence reply to an unidentified person: “It is not an inconvenience to me, but a pleasure to comply” [MTP].
May 24 Wednesday – At the Hotel Krantz in Vienna, Austria, Sam wrote to Dr. James R. Clemens, sharing their plans to leave Vienna on May 26 and to stay the Prince of Wales Hotel, Kensington, upon their arrival in England. The Clemens family intended to travel by daylight trains only [MTP].
Sam also wrote to Francis H. Skrine, another who had invited the Clemenses to stay with them upon arrival in London (invitation not extant):
May 25 Thursday – Vienna, Austria. This is the day Mark Twain was ushered in to see the Emperor Franz Josef I. Dolmetsch discusses who invited whom, settling on the idea that the Emperor likely acted upon the suggestion of his royal minister of foreign affairs, Count Agenor Goluchowski von Goluchowo (1849-1921). For such a celebrity to leave Austria after meeting everyone who was anyone, yet not seen by the head man himself, was tantamount to an international snub.
May 26 Friday – In Vienna, Austria, Sam replied to Sydney G. Trist, secretary of the London Anti-Vivisection Society , enclosing a typed page by Dr. Stephen F. Smith , read before the National Individualist Club in 1898 about the use of curare in vivisection. Trist’s letter is not extant.
May 27 Saturday – The Clemens family rested at Prince of Thurn und Taxis’ country estate outside of Prague [Dolmetsch 312].
The New York Times, p BR351, ran an article about Sam’s desire to have his reminiscences published 100 years in the future:
MARK TWAIN’S BOOK.
Views as to Its Publication a Century Hence.
May 28 Sunday – The Clemens family rested at Prince of Thurn und Taxis’ country estate outside of Prague [Dolmetsch 312].
May 29 Monday – At Prince of Thurn und Taxis’ country estate outside of Prague, Clara wrote on a postcard to Frau Malvine Bree in Vienna: “Komen Sie bald nach America und besuchen Sie / Clara C.” Livy and Sam each signed the card [MTP].
May 30 Tuesday – In the a.m., the Clemens party left Nuremburg and traveled 179 miles by rail to Cologne, Germany, where they spent the night.
The New York Times ran this article on June 11, p.19, datelined Vienna, May 30 by Dr. Johannes Horowitz: “Twain’s Farewell to Vienna,” rehashing again his audience with Emperor Franz Josef I, and his plan of killing the whole human race by depriving them of air [MTCI 339-40].
May 31 Wednesday – The Clemens family left Cologne, Germany at 6 a.m. on their way to England. Livy didn’t want to split the last stage in two, so they made a single trip of it, from 6 a.m. to 7:30 p.m
[June 1 to Twichell].
In Calais, France Sam cabled Chatto & Windus: “SHALL ARRIVE BY CALAIS DOVER TODAY SEVEN THIRTY = CLEMENS” [MTP].
June – Rodney evaluates Sam’s reputation after his stay on the Continent:
June 1 Thursday – At the Prince of Wales Hotel in Kensington (West London), Sam wrote to Poultney Bigelow.
All right—make it between 12th and 17th if you prefer.
We arrived last evening and the trunks haven’t come. This is a condition of things! [MTP].
June 2 Friday – At the Prince of Wales Hotel in London, England Sam wrote to John Y. MacAlister.
Yes, I’m for the Savage supper. Let us make it Friday the 9th.
Can Chatto and Spalding come—or is that inadmissible? Let me know.
Mrs. Clemens & our obstructions will be glad to see you & your wife any time you will come [MTP].
Sam also replied to Richard Watson Gilder’s (not extant) letter.
June 3 Saturday – Johann Strauss II (1825-1899) died of double pneumonia. Sam had met him in Vienna.
Strauss’ widow on June 6.
In an interview with the London Daily Chronicle, “Mark Twain in London,” p.3, Clemens reported “he was in London to arrange for the publication of a twenty-two volume de luxe edition of his writings” [MTHHR 399 n2; MTCI 334-39].
June 4 Sunday – At the Grand Hotel in Broadstairs, England, Sam wrote to Chatto & Windus, informing them of their sudden move to the coast in Broadstairs by order of Clara’s doctor.
June 5 Monday – In his June 6 to Rogers, Sam related showing Frank Bliss’ Canvassing book on the deluxe Uniform Edition to Andrew Chatto “a day or two ago”, “& he was vastly taken with it, & wants to put 1000 on the English market for me at 10% commission. I have asked Bliss what he will charge me for the volumes— suggesting cost, or thereabouts” [Note: more likely been a business day than a Sunday]. See also Apr. 25 to Chatto.
June 6 Tuesday – At the Grand Hotel in Broadstairs, England, Sam wrote to Alice Learned Bunner (Mrs. Henry Cuyler Bunner) in New London, Conn., who evidently had written (not extant) asking permission to make a calendar from his Puddn’head Wilson sayings in FE:
Unfortunately I am this long time under promise to make a Puddn’head Maxim Calendar myself, & have been gradually adding to the original list of Maxims to that end. Maxims are a slow growth, & it will take me a year or two yet.
June 7 Wednesday – At the Grand Hotel in Broadstairs, England, Livy wrote for Sam to Franklin G. Whitmore because her husband had “so much writing to do,” and to send a bank draft (enclosed) if he needed money in July. She related money might be forthcoming “from a magazine article” before he needed it for the taxes on their Farmington Ave. house. Also, they expected more money July 1 from Frank Bliss. They still planned to return to London on Friday [MTP].
June 8 Thursday – Clara Clemens’ 25th birthday.
Sam’s notebook entry: “June 8/99. Goerz. 13th ?” [NB 40 TS 56]. Note: the strikeout and the new entry for Goerz on June 13 may reflect a change of appointment date; see June 13.