1883 – Sometime during the year Sam inscribed Historical View of the Literature of the South of Europe by Sismondi (1881) to Livy L. Clemens / from SLC / Hartford 1883 [MTP]. Sam inscribed in a Rollo Book for Jean “Little-girl-left-the-gate-open-book” Jean 1883-4 [MTP]. Sam sent a copy of Punch, Brothers, Punch! And other Sketches (1878) with ALS to James R. Osgood asking for “50 or 100 heliotypes like those of the Howell children” [MTP].
Sam wrote sometime during the year to Charles Webster, suggesting he get a:
…general agency for subscription books of a Boston or Phila house….so as to get & keep together a corps of canvassers to use on our own books, later [MTP].
John Henton Carter’s interview of May 12, 1882 was published in Rollingpin’s Humorous Illustrated Annual for 1883. Sam was quoted about his books, the new suspender he was inventing, complaints about his image as a mere humorist, and his ability as a steamboat pilot [Budd, “Interviews” 3]. Note: this piece may have run first in the St. Louis Times sometime during May 1882.
At this time, Sam owned over 150,000 shares of stock in 23 companies [MTNJ 2: 491].
An undated page in MTP’s 1883 financial file in Sam’s handwriting:
Investments
Beecher 6,000
Lib. Lit. 8,000
Sheridan 1,400
Leo 9,880
Crawford 1,041
Hancock 100
Total 25, 241
Sometime during the year (and possibly earlier), Sam registered “Mark Twain” as a trademark in the U.S. Patent office [Twainian, Apr. 1945, p3. Oliver R. Barrett]. Note: This from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office website:
“The Patent and Trademark Depository Library Program began in 1871 when federal statute (35 USC 12) first provided for the distribution of printed patents to libraries for use by the public. During the Program’s early years, twenty-two libraries, mostly public and all but several located east of the Mississippi River, elected to participate.”
Note: Since the Chicago case against Belford & Clarke (arguing violation of trademark) went against Sam on January 8, 1883, it seems likely that any formal registration of trademark was prior to 1883.