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11 - Mark Twain; his life and work. A biographical sketch by William M. Clemens · Mark Twain; his life and work. A biographical sketch

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  Speaker 1: This is chapter eleven of Mark Twain, His Life and Work,
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  Speaker 1: a biographical sketch by William M. Clemens. This LibriVox recording
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  Speaker 1: is in the public domain. Chapter eleven As a business Man,
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  Speaker 1: read by John Greenman. A million copies of Mark Twain's
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  Speaker 1: books have been sold in this country. England and her
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  Speaker 1: colonies have taken half as many more, and the larger
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  Speaker 1: works have been translated into German, French, Italian, Norwegian and Danish.
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  Speaker 1: Innocence Abroad roughing it. The Gilded Age and A Tramp
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  Speaker 1: Abroad were published by the American Publishing Company of Hartford.
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  Speaker 1: The Stolen White Elephant appeared from the presses of Osgoode
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  Speaker 1: of Boston. The humorist has often said that if he
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  Speaker 1: were to live his life over again, he would publish
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  Speaker 1: his own books and act as his own business manager,
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  Speaker 1: thus securing a larger share of the profits arising from
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  Speaker 1: the sale of his works. The manuscript of The Adventures
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  Speaker 1: of Huckleberry Finn was completed in March eighteen eighty four,
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  Speaker 1: but owing to complications and differences with the publishers, it
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  Speaker 1: did not appear until the following year, although a prospectus
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  Speaker 1: of the story was sent out and the opening chapter
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  Speaker 1: published in the Century magazine. When the book was completed,
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  Speaker 1: mister Clemens made a proposition in regard to its publication
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  Speaker 1: to the American Publishing Company. From the sale of his
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  Speaker 1: earlier works, this firm had made for itself reputation and wealth.
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  Speaker 1: Mark Twain, on his side, received royalties amounting in all
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  Speaker 1: to over four hundred thousand dollars. When Huckleberry Finn, the
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  Speaker 1: sequel to Tom Sawyer, was completed, he again made them
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  Speaker 1: a proposition. Negotiations were commenced, but never completed. The parties
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  Speaker 1: could not agree upon terms. He was offered liberal royalties,
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  Speaker 1: but refused to accept them. The final offer was that
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  Speaker 1: the prophet should be equally divided each of the parties
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  Speaker 1: to receive fifty percent of the proceeds from the sale
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  Speaker 1: of the new book. This proposition was not satisfactory to
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  Speaker 1: the author, who wanted sixty percent of the profits. The
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  Speaker 1: company refused to accept the offer, and mister Clemmens determined
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  Speaker 1: to at once combine the business of publisher with that
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  Speaker 1: of author. He had great confidence in the business ability
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  Speaker 1: of his nephew, Charles L. Webster of Fredonio, New York.
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  Speaker 1: With him, he formed a partnership, and Huckleberry Finn appeared
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  Speaker 1: bearing the imprint of Charles L. Webster and Company. The
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  Speaker 1: result was watched with interest by literary men and publishers
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  Speaker 1: all over the world. Huckleberry Finn netted the author a
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  Speaker 1: profit of nearly one hundred thousand dollars. Mister Webster died
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  Speaker 1: a few years since, but the firm name remains unchanged.
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  Speaker 1: Upon his earlier books, Mark received upwards of thirty thousand
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  Speaker 1: dollars per year. For a number of years, Tom Sawyer
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  Speaker 1: sold better than any of his books, Accepting Innocence abroad.
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  Speaker 1: When The Gilded Age was dramatized and placed on the
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  Speaker 1: stage by John T. Raymond, it proved a gold mine
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  Speaker 1: for the fortunate author. In one year, Raymond paid Mark
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  Speaker 1: over seventy thousand dollars in royalties. He never dabbled in
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  Speaker 1: Wall Street stocks, although he knew whether Union Pacific or
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  Speaker 1: Western Union were up or down and why. His most
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  Speaker 1: unfortunate investment was in the stock of an accident insurance company,
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  Speaker 1: where he had invested fifty thousand dollars, but luckily he
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  Speaker 1: saved his money from the wreck. His wife had a
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  Speaker 1: large fortune in her own right, but so far as
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  Speaker 1: Mark Twain was concerned, she might have been penniless, for
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  Speaker 1: he insisted that her property be settled upon herself and
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  Speaker 1: managed for her interest exclusively. He has made his own
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  Speaker 1: fortune in his own way and has never had to
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  Speaker 1: borrow a cent from any one in his business investment.
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  Speaker 1: Since the Innocence began to coin money for him. The
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  Speaker 1: firm of Charles L. Webster and Company have published many
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  Speaker 1: books in addition to those written by Mark Twain. The
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  Speaker 1: profits in the Memoirs of General Grant and those of
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  Speaker 1: the Pope were enormous. In eighteen eighty four, when he
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  Speaker 1: read from his own works with George W. Cable, his
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  Speaker 1: share of the net profits was thirty thousand dollars. He
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  Speaker 1: invented Mark Twain's scrap Book, which made a fortune for
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  Speaker 1: the publishers. Nearly a million copies have been sold, and
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  Speaker 1: his profits amount to one hundred thousand dollars. He also
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  Speaker 1: invented a note book. All note books that he could
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  Speaker 1: buy had the vicious habit of opening at the wrong
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  Speaker 1: place and distracting attention in that way. So by a
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  Speaker 1: simple contrivance, he arranged one that always opens at the
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  Speaker 1: right place, that is, of course, at the page last
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  Speaker 1: written upon. Other simple inventions of Mark Twain's include a
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  Speaker 1: vest which enables the wearer to dispense with suspenders, a
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  Speaker 1: shirt with collars and cuffs attached, which requires neither buttons
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  Speaker 1: nor studs, a perpetual calendar watched charm, which gives the
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  Speaker 1: day of the week and of the month, and a
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  Speaker 1: game whereby people may play historical dates and events upon
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  Speaker 1: a board, somewhat after the manner of cribbage, being a
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  Speaker 1: game whose office is twofold to furnish the dates and
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  Speaker 1: events and to impress them permanently upon the memory. He
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  Speaker 1: is a literary midas everything he has touched has turned
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  Speaker 1: to gold, not from luck, but from hard work, and
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  Speaker 1: with an eye to business. In order to obtain the
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  Speaker 1: Grant Memoirs for publication, he made terms with a Grant
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  Speaker 1: family which other publishers did not dare to make, as
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  Speaker 1: Twain said, they did not appreciate the magnitude of the occasion.
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  Speaker 1: After he had become a business man and a millionaire,
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  Speaker 1: he was elected an honorary member of the Concord, Massachusetts
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  Speaker 1: Free Trade Club, and, in acknowledging the compliment, wrote to
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  Speaker 1: the secretary as follows, it does look as if Massachusetts
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  Speaker 1: were in a fair way to embarrass me with kindnesses
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  Speaker 1: this year. In the first place, a Massachusetts judge has
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  Speaker 1: just decided in open court that a Boston publisher may
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  Speaker 1: sell not only his own property in a free and
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  Speaker 1: unfettered way, but also may as freely sell property which
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  Speaker 1: does not belong to him, but to me, property which
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  Speaker 1: he has not bought and which I have not sold.
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  Speaker 1: Under this ruling, I am now advertising that judge's homestead
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  Speaker 1: for sale, and if I make as good a sum
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  Speaker 1: out of it as I expect, I shall go on
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  Speaker 1: and sell out the rest of his property. In the
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  Speaker 1: next place, a committee of the public library of your
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  Speaker 1: town have condemned and excommunicated my last book and doubled
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  Speaker 1: its sale. And finally, the Free Trade Club of Concord
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  Speaker 1: comes forward and adds to the splendid burden of obligations
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  Speaker 1: already conferred upon me by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts an
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  Speaker 1: honorary membership which is worth more than all the rest,
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  Speaker 1: just at this juncture, since it indorses me as worthy
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  Speaker 1: to associate with certain gentlemen who whom even the moral
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  Speaker 1: icebergs of the Concord Library Committee are bound to respect.
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  Speaker 1: May the Great Commonwealth of Massachusetts endure forever. Is the
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  Speaker 1: heartfelt prayer of one who, long a recipient of her
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  Speaker 1: mere general goodwill, is proud to realize that he is
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  Speaker 1: at last become her pet. Mister Clemens has been so
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  Speaker 1: busily engaged during the later years of his life that
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  Speaker 1: necessarily his book work and his personal correspondents have suffered.
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  Speaker 1: He failed to answer a letter written by Sergeant Ballantine,
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  Speaker 1: the English author, after waiting a reasonable time. The latter
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  Speaker 1: was so exasperated at not receiving an answer that he
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  Speaker 1: mailed Mark a sheet of paper and a postage stamp
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  Speaker 1: as a gentle reminder. Mister Clemens wrote back on a
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  Speaker 1: postal card, paper and stamp received. Please send envelope to day.
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  Speaker 1: In healthful middle age, Samuel L. Clemens is reaping the
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  Speaker 1: fruits of a long and varied career. He has been
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  Speaker 1: a printer, steamboat pilot, private secretary, minor reporter, lecturer, inventor, author, publisher,
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  Speaker 1: and capitalist. He is one of the few living persons
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  Speaker 1: with a truly world wide reputation, As Miss Gilder has
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  Speaker 1: truthfully and wittily remarked, unless the excellent gentleman engaged in
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  Speaker 1: revising the scriptures should claim the authorship of their work.
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  Speaker 1: There is no other living writer whose books are now
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  Speaker 1: so widely read as Mark Twain's, and it may not
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  Speaker 1: be out of the way to add that in more
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  Speaker 1: than one pious household, the Innocence Abroad is laid beside
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  Speaker 1: the family Bible and referred to as a handbook of
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  Speaker 1: holy Land. Description and narrative. End of Chapter eleven, read
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  Speaker 1: by John Greenman,