No letters written between 29 September and 7 October 1873 have been found. On 30 September the Clemenses went to Paris with Henry Lee, and returned to London by 7 October, the date of the next letter, but nothing further is known about their trip. Clemens had by now agreed to lecture in London, and was scheduled to begin on 13 October. His appearances were arranged by George Dolby, who had tried unsuccessfully to persuade him to lecture during his 1872 visit (15 Sept 72 to OLCclick to open link). According to Thompson, Dolby approached Clemens again, soon after his return to England in 1873, and said:
“We want you to lecture. There is only one drawback. You’ve plenty of money and your wife is rich and you don’t want to lecture.” “I guess that’s about the fact,” said Clemens. “But,” said Dolby “Just now you are the most widely read author in England, and people are eager to see you.” Clemens wanted to lecture then and on the Sandwich Islands; because he had recently delivered it in New York, and it was fresh in mind and easier. He told me he wanted to get it over with the blessing and condemnation of it. But he consented to wait the Fall season. (Thompson, 86)
Dolby booked six London performances of Clemens’s Sandwich Islands talk, the last on 18 October, and a final performance in Liverpool, on 20 October. He took charge of publicizing them, inserting the following advertisement in at least three newspapers:
MARK TWAIN.—Mr. GEORGE DOLBY begs to announce that Mr. MARK TWAIN (the American Humorist) will DELIVER a LECTURE, of a humorous character, at the Hanover-square Rooms, on MONDAY EVENING next, the 13th inst., and repeat it in the same place on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday Evenings, at eight o’clock, and Saturday Afternoon, at three o’clock, of the same week. Subject: “Our Fellow Savages of the Sandwich Islands.” As Mr. Twain has spent several months in these islands, and is well acquainted with his subject, the lecture may be expected to furnish matter of interest. (London Morning Post, 9 Oct 73, 1; also in London Graphic 335 11 Oct 73: 1; and London Daily News, 13 Oct 73, 4)
Dolby also arranged to have a broadside announcement printed (see below). And the 18 October issue of Punch (available by 15 October) published a comic quatrain in praise of Clemens, entitled “Welcome to a Lecturer” (Punch 65:154):
“’Tis time we Twain did show ourselves.” ’Twas said By Cæsar, when one Mark had lost his head: By Mark, whose head’s quite bright, ’tis said again; Therefore, “go with me, friends, to bless this Twain.” PUNCH.(See the enclosure with 13 and 15 Dec 73 to OLCclick to open link.) To further spread the word to his potential audience, Clemens wrote the following letter, addressed to the “Editor of the Standard” but clearly intended as a public communication.
