Eight Atlantic Ocean Crossings: DBD

March 30 Friday – At the Brighton Hotel in Paris France Sam wrote to Henry H. Rogers. A cablegram had not yet come about the arrival of Rogers’ daughters, Mrs. Cara Rogers Duff and May Rogers. Jean Clemens had suffered a scalding accident on her leg. Sam had his ticket to sail on Apr. 7, again on the SS New York. Sam also wrote he had seen George Franklin Southard and James G.

March 31 Saturday – In Paris Sam wrote a brief note to Frederick J. Hall, asking him to gather an unbound P&P for Lord Dufferin, the British Ambassador. Dufferin wished to bind the book himself. Hall was to remind Sam when he came, so he could write on the fly-leap and tell him how to direct the package [MTP]. Note: Lord Dufferin was Frederick Temple Blackwood (1826-1902), diplomat and author.

March 31 Sunday – Sam was en route on the S.S. Paris for Havre, France.

March 4 Monday – Lloyd S. Bryce, editor of the North American Review, wrote to Sam, the letter not extant but mentioned in Sam’s Mar. 9 to Bryce.

March 5 Tuesday – From H.H. Rogers’ abode at 26 E. 57th in New York, Sam wrote to Frank Fuller.

I am in America for a few days. Part of my errand is to arrange for my new book [JA], which is now finished. Another part of it is to consider a uniform edition of my books.

Can you come down now? If so, the car that passes the Grand Central Station will bring you to the above dwelling house.

March 6 Wednesday – Sam’s notebook: “Mr. Rogers’s, 26 E. 57th. / March 6/95, 10.45 a.m. Bliss” [NB 34 TS 5].

March 7 Wednesday – Sam sailed on the SS New York for Southampton and Le Havre [MTHHR 23].

March 8 Thursday – At sea on the SS New York, Sam wrote to Henry H. Rogers, outlining a “scheme” whereby William Evarts Benjamin, Frank Bliss, and himself would “join teams on the Uniform Edition” with a third profits to each, Benjamin to furnish the capital, Bliss to do the work. There would be an initial outlay of three or four hundred dollars for the “dummy” book for canvassers (another subscription approach) and when 1,000 subscriptions had been sold, the type could be set and the plates made, costing about $3,600.

March 9 Friday – In New York, Henry H. Rogers using the power-of-attorney Sam gave him on Mar. 6, assigned all of Sam’s property, including typesetter rights and copyright on his books, to Livy [MTHHR 43n1]. Note: this was a necessary preparatory and crucial step in saving the copyrights before Webster & Co. declared bankruptcy in April, and suggests the bankruptcy was planned by this day.

March 9 Saturday – From the Rogers’ home on 26 E. 57th in New York, Sam wrote to Lloyd S. Bryce, editor of the North American Review.

I find a basketful of unforwarded letters here this morning; among them yours [not extant] of five days ago. If I had the Cooper article here — but it’s in Paris. I will examine it when I reach there the first week in April, & — probably re-write it. If I get it to suit me I will send it to you.

May 1 Tuesday – In New York at the Players Club, Sam wrote to Frank E. Bliss in Hartford, asking him to come down “next Monday” (May 7) to possibly enter into an agreement for publishing PW “by subscription & do some planning & talking about the Uniform Edition” [MTP]. Note: William Evarts Benjamin was involved in a proposed Uniform Edition.

May 1 Wednesday – At the Hotel Brighton, Paris, France Sam wrote to Miss Goodridge, declining an invitation for Livy and him to dine on May 3. He pled being “gout-smitten once more, not able to put my foot to the floor all this day,” and he doubted what his condition would be by then. Another engagement also entered into his decision:

May 10 Thursday – Sam was en route on the S.S. New York for Southampton, London and Paris.

The New York Times, p.9 ran an update on the Webster & Co. assignment:

CHARLES L. WEBSTER & CO.’S AFFAIRS.

— — —

The Liabilities Placed at About $80,000 —

“Mark Twain” Sails for Europe.

May 10 Friday – In Paris Sam wrote to John D. Adams, editor at The Century Co., having just received the proofs, he guessed for Oct. issue. He suggested one slight change, but found “nothing else but some misplaced commas & periods — of no consequence.” He added after his signature, “We leave to-night for America” [MTP].

The Clemens family, not together in America since 1891, left Paris for Southampton.

May 11 Friday – Sam was en route on the S.S. New York for Southampton, London and Paris. In his May 16 to Livy he wrote:

It seems an age since I left New York; & yet I have been at work a large part of the time, & work obliterates time more effectively than anything except sleep [MTP].

May 11 Saturday – In Southampton, England, the Clemens family sailed for New York on the S.S. New York. The voyage would take seven days [MTHHR 134]. Note: Sam later called this the beginning of the world tour.

The Critic, XXVI p.338-9 reviewed PW, which it called “admirable in atmosphere, local color and dialect, a drama in its way, full of powerful situations, thrilling even; but it cannot be called in any sense literature” [Tenney 24].

May 12 Saturday – Sam was en route on the S.S. New York for Southampton, London and Paris and spent a “large part of the time” writing “Fenimore Cooper’s Literary Offenses,” and possibly other pieces.

May 12 Sunday – The Clemens family was en route on the SS NewYork to New York. Sam’s notebook on board:

Sunday morning. Six or eight people who came over with me in the Paris the other day. Three or four of them went up to London with our multi-millionaire to be shown his glories. It was a month ago; but to this day these men can think of nothing else, talk of nothing else. They are as happy & stunned & blessed as if they had been to heaven & dined with God [NB 34 TS 9].

May 13 Sunday – Sam was en route on the S.S. New York for Southampton, London and Paris and spent a “large part of the time” writing “Fenimore Cooper’s Literary Offenses,” and possibly other pieces.

May 13 Monday – The Clemens family was en route on the SS NewYork to New York.

May 14 Monday – Sam was en route on the S.S. New York for Southampton, London and Paris and spent a “large part of the time” writing “Fenimore Cooper’s Literary Offenses,” and possibly other pieces. A large meteor shower was visible in France.

May 14 Tuesday – The Clemens family was en route on the SS NewYork to New York.

May 15 Tuesday – Sam was en route on the S.S. New York for Southampton, London and Paris and spent a “large part of the time” writing “Fenimore Cooper’s Literary Offenses,” and possibly other pieces.

May 15 Wednesday – The Clemens family was en route on the SS NewYork to New York.

Livy wrote to H.H. Rogers: “Please honor Mr. Clemens’s drafts upon such funds of mine as are in your hands, & greatly oblige” [MTP].

May 16 Wednesday – Sam was en route on the S.S. New York for Southampton, London and Paris. He wrote to Livy.

Livy darling, I shall reach London this evening, no doubt; & then I shall seem very close to you & those others. It makes me joyful; & pretty impatient, too. The voyage makes a long, long interval, & conspicuously blank one, on account of the absence of letters from you. …