"The German Chicago"
From Mark Twain in the German Language Press
In 1891, Clemens agreed with the New York Sun to write six travel letters during his stay in Europe (Rasmussen et al. 2:813). His report on Berlin, the last in the series, was published in the New York Sun, April 3, 1892.
On the same day, the Chicago Daily Tribune released a version of the text as “The Chicago of Europe”, illustrated by Dan Beard and Harold R. Heaton. A transcribed version, including reproductions of the illustrations, is available on Barbara Schmidt’s Twainquotes. Under the title “Giants of Germany,” the article, along with two of the illustrations from the Tribune, was printed in the Pittsburgh Dispatch, April 3, 1892, where it was featured next to the first instalment of Henry James’s story “The Real Thing.”
The Illustrated London News published the text in three instalments, September 4, 1892, October 1, 1892, and October 22, 1892. This time, it was accompanied by ten original illustrations created by Amédée Forestier (1854-1930), an artist who, at the time, enjoyed great popularity with readers of English books and magazines and who also garnered respect for his artistic technique (Sketchley 93).
“The German Chicago” was later included in several collections of Mark Twain’s works, for example in The £1,000,000 Bank-Note, and Other New Stories (1893, 210-232), The American Claimant and Other Stories and Sketches (1898, 502-517), and In Defense of Harriet Shelley, and Other Essays (1918, 244-262).