Mark Twain was now a successful publisher, but his success thus far was
nothing to what lay just ahead. One evening he learned that General
Grant, after heavy financial disaster, had begun writing the memoirs
which he (Clemens) had urged him to undertake some years before. Next
morning he called on the General to learn the particulars. Grant had
contributed some articles to the "Century" war series, and felt in a mood
to continue the work. He had discussed with the "Century" publishers the
matter of a book. Clemens suggested that such a book should be sold only
by subscription and prophesied its enormous success. General Grant was
less sure. His need of money was very great and he was anxious to get as
much return as possible, but his faith was not large. He was inclined to
make no special efforts in the matter of publication. But Mark Twain
prevailed. Like his own Colonel Sellers, he talked glowingly and
eloquently of millions. He first offered to direct the general to his
own former subscription publisher, at Hartford, then finally proposed to
publish it himself, offering Grant seventy per cent. of the net returns,
and to pay all office expenses out of his own share.
Of course there could be nothing for any publisher in such an arrangement
unless the sales were enormous. General Grant realized this, and at
first refused to consent. Here was a friend offering to bankrupt himself
out of pure philanthropy, a thing he could not permit. But Mark Twain
came again and again, and finally persuaded him that purely as business
proposition the offer was warranted by the certainty of great sales.
So the firm of Charles L. Webster & Co. undertook the Grant book, and the
old soldier, broken in health and fortune, was liberally provided with
means that would enable him to finish his task with his mind at peace.
He devoted himself steadily to the work--at first writing by hand, then
dictating to a stenographer that Webster & Co. provided. His disease,
cancer, made fierce ravages, but he "fought it out on that line," and
wrote the last pages of his memoirs by hand when he could no longer speak
aloud. Mark Twain was much with him, and cheered him with anecdotes and
news of the advance sale of his book. In one of his memoranda of that
time Clemens wrote:
"To-day (May 26) talked with General Grant about his and my first
great Missouri campaign, in 1861. He surprised an empty camp near
Florida, Missouri, on Salt River, which I had been occupying a day
or two before. How near he came to playing the d-- with his future
publisher."
At Mount McGregor, a few weeks before the end, General Grant asked if any
estimate could now be made of the sum which his family would obtain from
his work, and was deeply comforted by Clemens's prompt reply that more
than one hundred thousand sets had already been sold, the author's share
of which would exceed one hundred and fifty thousand dollars. Clemens
added that the gross return would probably be twice as much more.
The last notes came from Grant's hands soon after that, and a few days
later, July 23, 1885, his task completed, he died. To Henry Ward Beecher
Clemens wrote:
"One day he put his pencil aside and said there was nothing more to
do. If I had been there I could have foretold the shock that struck
the world three days later."
In a memorandum estimate made by Mark Twain soon after the canvass for
the Grant memoirs had begun, he had prophesied that three hundred
thousand sets of the book would be sold, and that he would pay General
Grant in royalties $420,000. This prophecy was more than fulfilled. The
first check paid to Mrs. Grant--the largest single royalty check in
history--was for $200,000. Later payments brought her royalty return up
to nearly $450.000. For once, at least, Mark Twain's business vision had
been clear. A fortune had been realized for the Grant family. Even his
own share was considerable, for out of that great sale more than a
hundred thousand dollars' profit was realized by Webster & Co.