https://quintbooks.com/tag/stephen-griswold/Recent content in Stephen-Griswold on Quint BooksHugoenTue, 12 Mar 2024 00:00:00 +0000https://quintbooks.com/2024/03/12/did-mark-twain-meet-the-czar/Tue, 12 Mar 2024 00:00:00 +0000https://quintbooks.com/2024/03/12/did-mark-twain-meet-the-czar/<p>One of the famous stories Mark Twain writes about in <em>The Innocents Abroad</em> is the meeting of Twain and his fellow excursionists with Czar Alexander II. Is it possible that Twain, who wrote about the event in newspaper accounts, and in his book, didn’t actually make it to the meeting with the Czar?</p> <p>Twain writes to his mother (<a href="https://www.marktwainproject.org/xtf/view?docId=letters/UCCL00145.xml;style=letter">26 August, 1867</a>) about the visit to the Czar, in detail. He also signed a letter (<a href="https://www.marktwainproject.org/xtf/view?docId=letters/UCCL09123.xml;style=letter">26 August, 1867</a>) to ship owner Daniel Leary along with over twenty other passengers, thanking him for arranging the visit to the Czar. These would seem to lend credence to the idea that Twain was present.</p>