![]() On a promenade in the spa town of Bad Homburg, he ran into Albert Edward, Prince of Wales (later, King Edward VII), who recognized him and “took Mark Twain’s arm and the two marched up and down, talking earnestly together,” according to a traveling companion who related the day’s events to biographer Albert Bigelow Paine. He met with the American minister in Germany and enjoyed a private dinner with Kaiser Wilhelm II. In addition to writing travel essays for McClure’s Magazine and the New York newspaper The Sun, Twain earned money by giving readings in Berlin and Dresden and, later, in various Italian cities. In the summer of 1891, worried by the twin terrors of dwindling income and rising debts, Mark Twain and his family closed up their expensive mansion, sold the horses, laid off their servants (although they found new positions for all of them), and took off for Europe so that the internationally celebrated author could cash in on his fame abroad. “There are two times in a man’s life when he should not speculate: when he can’t afford it and when he can,” he acknowledged in Following The Equator (1897), but the self-awareness of his gullible nature and his public acknowledgment that he was “bad in business” did not prevent him from gambling on too-good-to-be-true ventures right up until his death. Matters weren’t helped by a bookkeeper who embezzled a small fortune or by his penchant for sinking money in patents and schemes that ultimately failed. To keep the company afloat, he had to reinvest the royalties from his own books. The company’s balance sheet was devastated by ongoing investment in a newfangled and ultimately hopeless typesetting machine and by the disappointing sales of such titles as an authorized biography of the current pope, Leo XIII (based on “an authentic memoir furnished by his order”), which Twain expected to be a blockbuster, and an exorbitantly produced 11-volume anthology grandly named A Library of American Literature. In 1879 Mark Twain scribbled in his notebook an idea he had for a story: “Case of a tramp who was loaned £1000,000 note for 30 days & he got rich on it because nobody could change it.” In subsequent years, he occasionally resurrected the notion, jotting down the title as a reminder or outlining a related idea, but nothing came of it.Ī decade later, financial problems at Charles Webster & Co., the publishing firm founded and owned by Twain, had become acute. as The Man with a Million), directed by Ronald Neame, with Gregory Peck as Henry Adams and George Devine as the restaurant proprietor. (An additional three volumes were published between 19.) Right: The same scene as depicted in The Million Pound Note (1954 released in the U.S. John (1872–1957) for “The £1,000,000 Bank-Note” when it was reprinted in The American Claimant and Other Stories and Sketches, volume 21 of the 22-volume uniform edition of Mark Twain’s works issued in various formats during 1899–1900. Left: “Change, please.” Illustration by American artist James Allen St. The Collected Shorter Works of Mark Twain “ Is He Living or Is He Dead?,” Mark Twain. ![]() “ Mark Twain in Irons: The Humorist Tried Before an Admiralty Court at Sea” (clipping from The Weekly News, November 10, 1892, ) However, his brother Roderick claims that not being able to exchange the bill will take all the value out of it and Henry will not be able to do anything.“ The 19th-Century Start-Ups That Cost Mark Twain His Fortune” (Richard Zacks, Time) The reason for this delivery is that Henry Adams has been the result of a bet of 20,000 pounds: A brother, Oliver, claims that just having this symbol of wealth will help a person to get what he wants even without using the bill. Also, he would not be able to pay with it in any store as they would not be able to give him back that much change. Henry cannot cash it in at a bank, as it would be suspicious and he would be asked how he came to have so much money without having stolen it. There he is seen by two rather eccentric millionaires who offer him a sealed envelope containing a single £1 million bill. Henry was working in a San Francisco stock exchange office and one weekend, while sailing, he is swept out to sea and rescued by a ship on its way to London.ĭuring the boat ride he works hard to earn his fare and food and finally arrives in London penniless and with his clothes in tatters. ![]() ![]() Set in Victorian London, the story introduces us to Henry Adams. It has been adapted to film on several occasions. The Million Pound Bank Note is a short story written by Mark Twain and originally published in 1893. The Million Pound Bank Note Book download in PDF, ePub & Mobi by Mark Twain
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