Vol 3 Section 0296
“Bliss seems to be having an easy thing with his handsome signed & numbered edition (of 512 copies.) President McKinley & other big guns have subscribed, & Bliss is feeling very well.
“Do you think you could work off a similar edition in England?”
Sam noted there was”abundance of time to feel the pulse there” for such a set in England, as Bliss had probably only manufactured the first of the 20 or 22 volumes. The books were being made by Riverside Press, which Sam wrote “means the best taste and much expense” [MTP].
Emil Stepheuben wrote from Copenhagen to Sam, relating a little story about a horse there who would stop until he was taken by the head and “Sam, Sam!” was yelled at him. Sam wrote “use this” in pencil, circled at the top of the letter [MTP].
April 26 Wednesday
April 27 Thursday – At the Hotel Krantz in Vienna, Austria, Sam wrote to John Kendrick Bangs.
Dear Sir: Do you think you could persuade Mr. Howells to come out of that polling-booth & let me keep game a while? / Supplicatingly / Mark Twain [MTP: Bangs, Francis H. John Kendrick Bangs. (1941) p.205]. Note: see Apr. 2 to 13 to Howells.
Andrew Chatto wrote to Sam, pleased that Frank Bliss was making progress on the 512 deluxe edition, signed and numbered of Mark Twain’s works, and would like to see a specimen and a copy of Bliss’ prospectus, if he was issuing one. “The American price of $200 a set seems higher than the English public are accustomed to pay—the price of the [Robert Louis] Stevenson as you will see, was at the rate of 12/6 per vol” [MTP].
April 28 Friday – Sam’s notebook:
“Miss Harrison—date, Apl. 28/99: To our credit, $ 51,995.29 cash. Invested in American Smelting Co., $5,000—now worth $6,300. 50 pfd & 35 com—selling at 90 & 52” [NB 40 TS 55].
April 29 Saturday – Wilfred R. Hollister and R. Harry Norman wrote to Sam of their intent to publish a book, Five Famous Missourians (published 1900 by Hudson-Kimberly Publishing, Kansas City, Mo.) Could he provide contacts who might report on “unpublished incidents” in Sam’s life? On May 13 Sam asked his nephew, Samuel E. Moffett, to answer their letter [MTP].
April 30 Sunday – At the Hotel Krantz in Vienna, Austria, Sam wrote to Chatto & Windus asking them to spend one pound, no more, to obtain some illustrated books including Jack and the Beanstalk which were for sale at a charity bazaar [MTP].
May 1-7 Sunday – At the Hotel Krantz in Vienna, Austria, Sam wrote to Joe Twichell, enclosing a form letter invitation in German for a committee meeting from Bertha von Suttner.
I reckon the Peace Society must be feeling just a little sick, these days. I don’t see how a bright, dear, earnest creature like Bertha von Suttner can stand the situation the ridiculous Tsar has put it into. I used to attend the Society’s meetings here, although I was not interested, but it is no place at all for me now.
Business calls me to London indefinitely; so the family have decided to go along. We leave here in a couple of weeks, stopping a day or so in Prague, the same in Dresden, a night in Bremen & go to Southampton next day per s.s. “Lahn,” & thence to London. The saltwater will smell heavenly to me after this long privation [MTP].
SLC used mourning border for most letters from Susy’s death on, then from Livy’s death on.