In "Following the Equator" (also in "More Tramps Abroad"), Twain explains at
length the story of the Mark Twain Club of Corrigan Castle, Ireland.

Twain mentions meeting "an Irishman; an educated gentleman; grave, and
kindly, and courteous; a bachelor, and about forty-five or possibly fifty
years old, apparently". Allegedly, the man showed Twain "an album with
twenty-three photographs" of Twain, including one taken just a month earlier
in Sydney.

In "Following the Equator" Twain suggests the man's name might have been C.
Pembroke.

1. What if any record is there of the above-mentioned picture album
belonging to the former president of the Mark Twain Club?

2. Is there any evidence to suggest that there ever was a club badge, as
Twain indicates in the same yarn: "... very dainty and pretty it was; and
very artistic. It was a frog peeping out from a graceful tangle of
grass-sprays and rushes, and was done in enamels on a gold basis, and had a
gold pin back of it".

3. Or are both these stories complete fiction?

In her excellent 1988 book "At Home Abroad -- Mark Twain in Australasia",
Miriam Schillingsburg suggests "there is enough verifiable information" in
this tale for the basics of the story to be true. Has this matter been
settled authoritatively? Has anyone investigated the origin and authenticity
of the name C. Pembroke?

ron hohenhaus
brisbane, australia
marktwain.com.au