From the outside looking in, things were going very well indeed for Thomas Mann in the years between the publication of Buddenbrooks in October 1901 and the outbreak of the First World War. While the reputation of Mann’s first novel continued to grow, just as Samuel Lublinski had predicted, new publications followed: Tonio Kröger won widespread acclaim when it appeared in February 1903. Later that year it was included in a second volume of novellas with Tristan as the title story. Mann’s drama Fiorenza was published in 1905, a second novel, Royal Highness, in 1909, and in 1912, Death in Venice was hailed as an instant classic. Mann’s personal life seemed to be keeping pace with his brilliant career. In February 1905 he married Katia Pringsheim, the daughter of one of the richest and most socially prominent families in Munich. Nine months later his daughter Erika was born, to be followed in rapid succession by Klaus (1906), Angelus (Golo, 1909), and Monika (1910); Elisabeth (1918) and Michael (1919) would come later. With the financial assistance of his in-laws, Mann was able to move into a seven-room apartment complete with a baby grand piano; a few years later he had a vacation home built south of Munich in Bad Tölz, where he spent summers with his growing family; in 1912 the Mann family moved into a palatial villa on the outskirts of Munich.