Sept. 1864
"I, Norton I, hereby proclaim that Samuel Clemens, newspaperman, who also writes under the nom-de-plume of Mark Twain, is made, by Royal Appointment, official spinner of tales and teller of stories to these United States of America, for the duration of his mortal lifetime.
Norton I, Emperor."

This proclamation has been sited by Neil Gaiman in his graphic novel The Sandman Fables Reflections, "Three Septembers and a January."
No other reference to it has been found to date and therefore it is currently presumed fictive. However, Mark Twain certainly deserved the title. If Norton-1 didn't decree the Royal Appointment during His reign, it's likely He would have posthumorously.

Gaiman's work has The Emperor urging Samuel Clemens to write a story about a frog in Sept. 1864--not impossible. Twain first published "Jim Smiley and His Jumping Frog" on 18 November 1865 and again [16 December 1865] with a new title "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County." The book was published in 1867.

Sandman annotation
Jumping Frog info

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