January – Sam’s article “A Nabob’s Visit to New York” ran in American Publishing Co.’s in-house promotional monthly, American Publisher [Camfield, bibliog.]. See Roughing It, Ch. 46.

January? – Thomas Nast’s first Almanac was published: “Th. Nast’s Illustrated Almanac for 1872”. Contributions listed: Mark Twain, Josh Billings, and Petroleum V. Nasby [Paine, Nast 202]. Paine had selected a piece from the Galaxy, which Sam retained the rights to, “The Late Benjamin Franklin” [MTL 4: 373-4n2].