October – The first of a four-part, 15,000 word article on Sam and Joe Twichell’s trip to Bermuda, ran in the Atlantic Monthly: “Some Rambling Notes of an Idle Excursion” [Wells 22].

Curiously, in the magazine Belgravia, Chatto & Windus published a piece of Clemens’ titled “Some Random Thoughts of an Idle Excursion,” no explanation for the title change. The piece ran only seven pages [AntiQbook.com]. Note: see Jan. 1, 1878 entry, which shows Chatto and Conway thought this a better title; also used is “Random Notes of an Idle Excursion.”

Sam inscribed copies of Innocents Abroad and Sketches, New and Old, to Matthew H. Bartlett, a Boston shipping agent [MTLE 2: 168]. “To Mr. Bartlett, who has robbed the historical command ‘Away with him to the Tower!’ of all its terrors—this, with the grateful acknowledgements of Mark Twain Hartford, Oct. 1877” [McBride 9].