Vol 3 Section 0397

[Note: See Apr. 17, 1894 – in the Apr. 1894 North American Review article, “Private History of the ‘Jumping Frog’ Story,” the professor is identified as Professor Henry Van Dyke of Princeton. See Budd, Collected 2: 152]. See also 154, 1022n154.42 in source; also Gribben p.642, entry for Arthur Sidgwick (1840-1920) who actually did the translation.

Welland clarifies “the printers in Scotland” as well as Sam’s comment about “changing English publishers”:

That role [of Chatto & Windus] … nearly came to an abrupt end in 1900 in circumstances that cannot be fully documented because Clemens’s presence in London meant that the crucial negotiations were conducted orally. Bliss, who was preparing volume 22 of the Autograph Edition, had referred some textual queries to the author, only to receive a reply, dated 30 March [above], empowering him to make any changes he liked…. The stories were presumably two which were being collected for the first time in

America in the Autograph (Blanck identifies four such items in addition to the poem on Susy); the proofs in Scotland, however, would have been for the English edition of The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg and Other Stories and Sketches in which all four pieces were included. ….Clemens…adds casually and parenthetically ‘(I am changing English publishers)’.

How seriously this was taken by Chatto & Windus may be seen from the survival of this memorandum dated 3 April 1900 and signed (unusually) by both Chatto and Spalding:

Mr. Clemens called today to ask whether our offer of £500 on account of 25 per cent royalty in advance on 6/- editions of his new volume of stories and Essays “The Man Who [sic] Corrupted Hadleyburg” &c. and 2d. in the 1/ – royalty on editions at a lower price would stand good—when we said it would, and he said he would let us know in a day or two whether he would be able to accept it, as he was wishful of doing so if possible. He then said, when asked if he had signed the agreement as revised by him giving him the option of purchasing our interest in his other books —at the expiration of 5, 10, or 15 years, that he had come to the conclusion that he did not see any advantage to be gained by removing the books from our hands and that he therefore had decided not to disturb the present arrangement for the publication of his books by us.

The next day, confirming these arrangements to Clemens and promising a formal contract, they enclosed ‘Messrs Blackie’s cancelled agreement’. Unfortunately the house of Blackie has no record of any negotiations with Mark Twain, nor is there any obvious reason why he should have chosen that particular Glasgow firm. His reference to the proofs being ‘in the hands of the printers in Scotland’, however, is only explicable in those terms, for Chatto used Spottiswoode of London as the printer for the Hadleyburg volume [202-3]. Note: Welland surmises Sam’s desire to change publishers rose from disappointment of sales from the deluxe edition in England.

Sam also wrote to Franklin G. Whitmore that he’d left the money for the asphalt in Bliss’ hands as he needed it presently in his business; he didn’t want Bliss to pay out money without written orders, but there would always be time for Whitmore to send an estimate of his “probable needs & get an order back before the money is required. As in the present case. Mrs. Clemens is writing to her brother in Elmira, & will ask him to send you the $130 to cover your estimate of April Expenses.” Sam still could not get over the Feb. 14 death of Henry C. Robinson [MTP].

Andrew Lang wrote to Sam in a most illegible hand. He discussed Anatole France’s Jeanne d’Arc. “If you are lazy about comparing, I can make you a complete set of what the authorities say, and of what this amazing novelist says.” Lang called France “an egregious ass” [MTP].

Frank Thomas Bullen inscribed a copy of his book, The Log of a Sea-Waif: Being Recollections of the First Four Years of My Sea Life (1899): “To Mark Twain / as the tiniest mark of / grateful recognition of sorrow / lightened, care driven away, / and even health restored by / the sweet and genial influences / of his incomparable books / with the undying love / and gratitude of the / Author / F T Bullen / London March 30 / 1900” [Gribben 111]. Note: see Mar. 29 and Apr. 5 on Bullen.

SLC used mourning border for most letters from Susy’s death on, then from Livy’s death on.