Note: Additions and corrections since the print run in April, 2009. New material and corrections of old material are ongoing. This work is never “finished.” I wish to provide up to date information with each book sold. Up to the minute updates may now be found online, at http://marktwaindaybyday.webs.com/
Spelling correction throughout: – Katharine I. Harrison, not “Katherine.”
Distinction between George W. Smith and George Williamson Smith – The former was a Chicago attorney and is indexed on pages 303, 304, 319. The latter, President of Trinity College, Hartford, should be indexed on pages 320 and 352.
1886 addition – W. Duke Sons & Co. also included trading cards of famous Americans in tobacco packages, including Thomas Jefferson, Robert Fulton, John Logan, Paul Jones, Alexander Hamilton, Edgar Allen Poe, Francis Scott Key, and Mark Twain [Library of Congress: Duke Univ. Emergence of Advertising On-Line Project]. Note Insert: note the top illustration relating to TA.
1886 addition – Sam inscribed his copy of The Life and Scientific Labors of the Second Marquis of Worcester [i.e., Edward Somerset (1601-1667)], etc., by Henry Dircks (1806 -1873) published in 1865: “S.L. Clemens, Hartford, 1886.” See Gribben p.194.
March to May, 1886 addition – Sam wrote a sketch unpublished until 2009: “The Snow-Shovelers” [Who Is Mark Twain? xxvi; p.147-51].
March 4, 1886 addition – Harnsberger writes of an incident with Clara Clemens, determined by events mentioned to be this day: The girls suffered many discomforts because of their impressibility. Clara had extra -sensory perception. In her fifth year she began to be troubled by the recurring vision of an old woman in a hideous plaid dress. At first, she imagined the woman in a boat with two other women, floating up near the ceiling of her hotel room in London. Later, the woman appeared alone, looking through windows, and making other solitary appearances. For seven years, this apparition persisted, causing distress and fear and sometimes leaving the girl with a sense of impending disaster. … When Clara complained about the terrifying old woman her mother took her to a doctor, who prescribed “plenty of fresh air and exercise” to dispel her visions. Later, Clara saw the woman again and felt the premonition of another death. As she sat down to dinner, she said to her parents: “Mrs. Hawley is dying.” Inasmuch as the General Joseph Hawleys were their friends, the Clemenses felt certain they would have heard such news, and they refused to believe Clara’s startling announcement. Three hours later, a messenger delivered tidings of Mrs. Hawley’s sudden death [33]. Note: Harriet Ward Hawley died at 6:30 p.m. Mar. 3, 1886 in Washington, D.C. [Hartford Courant, Mar. 6, 1886 p.2 “The Funeral at Washington”]. Word of her death probably would not have reached Hartford until the next day, or Mar. 4.
April 21, 1886 addition – Sam wrote to an unidentified woman: [eBay sale #180508172611] Thank you very much for the circular. What a pity poor Josh Billings is dead. He always wanted an office, by now he has lost the chance of being President of that Society / Truly Yours / SL Clemens [eBay item #320102336553, Apr. 25, 2007 by Goldberg Coins & Collectibles].
September 8, 1886 addition – Bacheller & Johnson; America’s first newspaper syndicate. See insert of logo.
September 28, 1886 addition – Sam wrote to Mrs. Parker (not further identified) dating it only Sept. 28. It may have been 1887, but this year seems more likely, given the load of war books at this time with Webster & Co. Dear Mr. Parker: / No, I don’t like to read MS books; they make me swear. And I can’t publish a story—or other work—because we are full of military literature for several years yet. / I greet you again with pleasure; you were a good audience all by yourself. / Truly Yours / SL Clemens [Bonham’s auction Nov. 23, 2004; sale 13058, Lot 5136]. Note: This may be Mrs. Edwin Pond Parker or, less likely the wife of Prof. Joseph Parker, who spoke in Hartford on Oct. 13, 1887, since Sam had clearly talked with the woman before this letter.
November, 1886 addition – eBay Item number: 110375489327 seen in April, 2009 reveals an excerpt titled, “The Pony Express,” by Mark Twain (listing not in Tenney) in The Empire State Philatelist. A Monthly Magazine for Stamp Collectors, Vol. 2, No. 11 published in NYC by T.C. Watkins & Co. The article is in fact an excerpt from RI, whether authorized or not is unclear.
December 6, 1886 addition – In Hartford, Sam wrote an invitation to Joseph R. Hawley: Will you dine with me Wednesday afternoon at 4.30 to meet his Excellency Henry M. Stanley, Governor of the Congo Free State? Sincerely Yours S.L. Clemens [Live Auctioneers; MTPO]. Note: See Dec. 8 for dinner at the Clemens home preceding Stanley’s lecture at Unity Hall.
1887 – Sometime during the year in Hartford, Carl Rohl-Smith (b.1848), Danish sculptor, created a bronze, 14” in diameter bas-relief bust of Mark Twain, likely from life. He also did a similar bronze of Sam’s neighbor, Harriet Beecher Stowe Robert Slotta, May 20, 2010]. Gripsack Gleanings, #s 3 and 4, by the Fun Library, carried Mark Twain’s story about the Mexican Plug, and “An Introduction” by Twain along with another anecdote [Am. Art Assoc. catalog, Jan. 20, 1914, Items 122 & 123]. See insert cover #3 recently for sale on eBay.
May 14, 1887 addition – Sam wrote an unsent letter to Jeanette Leonard Gilder (two days later he sent only a short note with the first part of this letter. We shall spend the summer at the same old place—the remote farm called “Rest-&-be-Thankful,” on top of the hills three miles from Elmira, N.Y. Your other question is harder to answer. It is my habit to keep four or five books in process of erection all the time, & every summer add a few courses of brick to two or three of them; but I cannot forecast which of the two or three it is going to be. It takes seven years to complete a book by this method, but still it is a good method: gives the public a rest. I have been accused of “rushing into print” prematurely, moved then to greediness for money; but in truth I have never done that. Do you care for trifles of information? Well, then, “Tom Sawyer” & “The Prince & the Pauper” were each on the stocks two or three years, & “Old times on the Mississippi” eight. One of my unfinished books has been on the stocks sixteen years; another, seventeen. This latter book could have been finished in a day, at any time during the past five years. But as in the first of these two narratives all the action takes place in Noah’s ark, & as in the other the action takes place in heaven, there seemed to be no hurry, & so I have not hurried. Tales of stirring adventure in those localities do not need to be rushed to publication lest they get stale by waiting. In twenty-one years, with all my time at my free disposal, I have written & completed only eleven books, whereas with half the labor that a journalist does I could have written sixty in that time. I do not greatly mind being accused of a proclivity for rushing into print, but at the same time I don’t believe that the charge is really well founded. Suppose I did write eleven books, have you nothing to be grateful for? Go to—remember the forty-nine which I didn’t write. / Truly Yours … [MTP].
September, 1887 – Sam wrote a sketch unpublished until 2009: “An Incident” [Who Is Mark Twain? xxiv]. The famous English Congregationalist minister, Rev. Dr. Joseph Parker, relates a September visit to Mark Twain’s Hartford house in his 1896 book, Might Have been; Some Life Notes, p.296: Of all the houses I have ever seen, Mark Twain’s is the most charming—not the grandest, not the most dollarfish, not the most showy, but the exact contrary. Elegance and simplicity culminated in Mark Twain’s house. The difficulty is that, having got you into it, you don’t want to come out of it again. Here, also, you have room opening out of room in apparently endless succession. Yonder a touch of colour, yonder a corner of a conservatory, yonder the outline of a library, the walls alive with art, the whole bathed in September sunlight. And here is Mark himself, and here is Mrs. Mark, both as genial as the morning, both most hospitable and welcoming. The conversation was long and varied. If I added that it was lit up with stories of all sorts, I should be strictly within the line of fact. Mrs. Stowe is permitted to use Mark Twain’s garden as if it were her own. She goes in and out when she pleases, and cuts what flowers she likes. So we had heard. “Is that a fact, Mr. Clemens?” “Well,” said Mark drawlingly and smilingly, “it is. The only man who objects to it is John.” “John?” said I. “Yes. Well, now, I tell you,” he continued; “John is a heaven-born undertaker in his manner. Not a retail undertaker, who smiles and fawns on you in the hope that one day he may have the burying of you; but a regular state-endowed undertaker whose position is assured, and who can therefore afford to snub you. John don’t like it [Note: John O’Neil, the family’s longtime gardener is likely the John mentioned here. Parker arrived in New York on Aug. 28, 1887 and spent some time in the Catskills before his lecture tour under James B. Pond began on Oct. 6 in New York City [NY Times, Aug. 29, 1887 p. 5, “Doctor Parker’s Parable.” This meeting, if the doctor’s ten-year reminiscence is correct, occurred in September of 1887. He lectured at Hartford’s Unity Hall Oct. 13, 1887. See entry. Added Oct. 26, 2010.
September 11, 1887 addition – “An Incident” Sunday morning, September 11, 1887, in Elmira, N.Y., I got the largest and gratefulest compliment that was ever paid me. I walked down to State street at 9.30, with the idea of getting shaved. I was strolling along in the middle of Church street, musing, dreaming; I was in a silent Sabbath solitude. Just as I turned into State, I looked up and saw a mighty fire-boy ten or twelve steps in front of me, creeping warily in my direction, with intent eye, and fingering the lock of a gun which was concealed behind him, all but the end of the barrel, which stuck up into view back of his shoulder. My instant thought was, “he is a lunatic out gunning for men, and I cannot escape.” he stopped, bent his body a little, and brought his gun to the front, cocked. There was no time to consider impulses; I acted upon the first one that offered. I walked straight to him, with a beating heart, and asked him to let me look at his weapon. To my joy, he handed it to me without a word. I turned it about, this way and that, praising, examining, asking question after question, to keep his attention diverted from murderous ideas until somebody should come by. He answered right along, and soon I caught a blessed sound: I understood him to say he was out hunting cats. He added, “There they are, yonder;” and turned and pointed. I saw four sorry-looking cats crossing the street in procession some forty steps away. I forgot my own troubles for a moment, to venture a pleas for the cats; but before I could get it out, he interrupted with the remark that those were our “engine-house cats,” and went on to say that they were not afraid of doges or any other creature, and followed him around every morning while he shot their breakfast—English sparrows. He called, “Come Dick!” and Dick came, and so did the rest. Aha!—so far from being a madman, he was saner, you see, than the average of our race; for he had a warm spot in him for cats. When a man loves cats, I am his friend and comrade, without further introduction. So I dropped the barber-shop scheme, and Hercules and I went promenading up and down the Sunday stillnesses, talking, and watching for sparrows, while the four cats followed in patient procession behind. I made so many intelligent observations about cats, that I grew in the estimation of Hercules, right along—that was plain to see; but at last in an unlucky moment I dimmed and spoiled this effect by letting out the fact that I was a poor shot and had no improvable talent in that line. I saw in a flash the damage I had done myself, and hastened to switch off onto something else and try to get back my lost ground. I praised the gun again, and asked where I could get one like it. The address given was unfamiliar to me but I said,— “I can manage it, though; for Mr. Langdon or Mr. Crane will know.” Hercules came to a sudden stop; ordered arms; leaned on his gun, and began to inspect me with a face all kindled with interest. He said: “Do you live up on the East Hill with Mr. Crane, summers?” “Yes.” “No! But is—is it you?” I said yes, and he broke all out into welcoming smiles, and put out his hand and said heartily: “Well, here I’ve been poking round and round with you and never once—Look here, when a man’s done what you’ve done, he don’t need to give a damn whether he can shoot or not!” What an immense compliment it was!—that “Is it you?” No need to mention names—there aren’t two of you in the world! It was as if he had said, “In my heedlessness I took you for a child’s toy-balloon drifting past my face—and Great Scott, it’s the moon!” A consciously exaggerated compliment is an offence; but no amount of exaggeration can hurt a compliment if the payer of it doesn’t know he is exaggerating. In fact, if he can superbly seem unconscious, he may depend upon it that even that will answer. There is the instance of that minister of Napoleon’s who arrived late at the council board at a time when six kings were idling around Paris waiting for a chance to solicit concessions and relaxings of one sort or another. The emperor’s brow darkened and he delivered a thunder-blast at the procrastinating minister; who replied with apparently unstudied simplicity— “Sire, at any other court I had not been late. I hurried as I could, by my way was obstructed by the concourse of tributary kings!” The brow of the master of the world unclouded. I know how good he felt. Note: SLC’s previously unpublished piece, “An Incident,” is now collected in Who is Mark Twain? (2009), p.165-8. As per Robert Hirst this snatch “of pure autobiography” (p. xvii) is dated as “September 1887” (p. xxvi). But specifically it is identified as Sept. 11.
October 17, 1887 addition – Sam wrote to the Berkshire Press Club: Mr. SL Clemens thanks the Berkshire Press Club for this kind invitation & greatly regrets that his occupations engagements are such as to debar its acceptance / Hartford, Oct. 17 1887 [GottaHaveIt.com website sale June 15, 2009]. Note: the Club had annual dinners; Oliver Wendell Holmes declined to attend in 1880.
1888 addition – Under Anthony Kennedy’s letter to Sam there is a note (MTL 1: 2-3) for more about Kennedy. That publication cites Inland Printer, “‘Mark Twain’ a Poor Typo,” 40 (January 1908): 560, as the source of Kennedy’s letter, but it has been discovered that the letter was published earlier, in Vol.31, p.77 of The Typographical Journal, for 1907. Also noted there is Kennedy’s 1853 employment with Sam on the Missouri Democrat. This publication continues, “In 1888 he ran for delegate in New York, but was defeated. He wrote to Mark Twain [letter not extant] seeking sympathy at his defeat, and arraigning those responsible those responsible for it.” Sam’s letter in Vol. II is a reply to “Tony’s” letter.
January 14, 1888 addition – The Critic, p. 19, in “The Lounger,” published an anecdote about the Rev. Dr. Parker meeting Charles Darwin, who used Mark Twain books to read himself to sleep. See also Gribben p.176.
February 12, 1888 addition – Sam inscribed his photo: “To Chas. L. Webster / With the affectionate regards of / S.L. Clemens / Feb. 12, 1888” [MTBus, frontispiece facsimile]. (dec 31 2009)
March 19, 1888 addition – Livy arrived in Washington, D.C. accompanied by Charles Dudley Warner and wife [Washington Post, Mar. 20, 1888 Society page]. Note: It is not known whether she returned to Hartford before the Terry/Irving farewell banquet.
March 26, 1888 addition/correction – The farewell banquet for Ellen Terry and Henry Irving which Fatout mistakenly reported as Apr. 27, was this date [NY Times, Mar. 28, 1888 p.4 “Mr Daly’s Irving Supper”]. From a private letter (Apr. 7, 1888) of General William Tecumseh Sherman for sale by Grey Parrot Gallery on AbeBooks.com (April 2009), on the Delmonico banquet for Henry Irving and Ellen Terry: I continue in my accustomed life at the 5th Avenue Hotel, dining out almost nightly…Daly gave Irving & Terry a superb banquet at Delmonicos the eve of their departure, and after the preliminaries turned the command over to me. We kept it up till 5 am, Ada Rehan my right neighbor, Irving on my left—the tablewas round, accommodating about 80 guests, with a mass of flowers arranged in a grand star, the English & American flags marking the points—besides the special guests we had the usual stand-bys Chauncey Depew, Horace Porter, Mark Twain, Wallack, Lewis, Dan Dougherty &c &c. Your imagination must fill up the picture.
March 31, 1888 addition – The Critic p.156 ran a paragraph in Jeannette Leonard Gilder’s special column, “The Lounger,” about the recent trip of authors to Washington, including Mark Twain: The authors went down to Washington, two weeks ago, in a special car. A few ladies accompanied them. Mark Twain was the centre of interest and attraction, and told good stories till the roof of the car was in danger of cracking with the laughter they provoked. Sunday (March 18) intervened between the first and second readings; and finding that it was the President’s birthday, the visitors presented him with a hundred red tulips growing in a box. The number had no reference to the recipient’s age, for he is only fifty-one. A colored waiter in the Arlington Hotel, overhearing a preliminary conversation on the subject among the literary guests of the house, confidentially informed them that it was ‘etikwet’ to make such presents, not to the President, but to his wife ! Strange to say, the authors persisted in their intention of presenting the tulips to Mr. Cleveland. With it they sent a congratulatory round-robin. In deference to the waiter’s judgment, they observed the proprieties to the extent of giving the Lady of the White House a bunch of violets.
April 4, 1888 addition – In Hartford Sam wrote to Frank Fuller at the Windsor Hotel in N.Y.C. Only the envelope survives [eBay #280091825068 Mar. 18, 2007 by University Archives].
May 15, 1888 addition – Two copies of Mark Twain’s Library of Humor were deposited the US Copyright Office [Library of Congress Call No: PN6157.C5 1888]. Note: the LC copy has two states of p. 8 of the book—the first crediting “Warm Hair” to Mark Twain, the second without the credit. He did not write it.
June to September, 1888 – Sam prepared a speech he did not deliver due to Theodore Crane’s stroke. This was published in 2009: “The American Press” [Who Is Mark Twain? xxvi; p.199-206]. Note: In Sam’s Sept. 16 to Orion he mentions plans to speak in Chicago on Sept.20.
June 5, 1888 addition – The letter which Sam wrote to President Cleveland’s wife, Frances F. Cleveland, about the time Sam had been in Washington for the President’s birthday on Mar. 18, referred to “this book” in the first paragraph. The book was an autograph book prepared for Mrs. Cleveland by Edward Eggleston, and contained the June 5 letter of dialect by “the colored waiter.” In 1984 some 200 miniature copies of the book (2 5/16” by 1 13/16”) were reprinted as Mark Twain Compliments the President’s Wife by Anne & David Bromer of Boston. The Critic referred to the Washington trip, and “the colored waiter in the Arlington Hotel” in the Mar. 31, 1888 issue. (See entry in addenda.)
September 11, 1888 addition – Sam’s Browning reading was given at the home of Clara Spaulding Stanchfield (Mrs. John B. Stanchfield). Sharlow found a review of the reading in a society column for Saturday Tidings (Elmira) of Sept. 15, 1888: One of the most delightful entertainments that possibly could be given is marked to the credit of Mr. and Mrs. J.B. Stanchfield by the many people who were invited to their home on Main street last Tuesday evening [Sept. 11]. Readings by Mr. Samuel L. Clemens was the announcement which assured the guests of an evening of still greater enjoyment than the conversations with friends and conventional forms of entertainment which a clever and charming hostess can make so attractive. Probably no one who knows Mr. Clemens by sight ever passes him on the street without nudging his companion, if he has one, or whispering to himself, if he is alone, “There is Mark Twain.” Great is the fascination that noted men possess for common humanity, which is individualized only once in ten years by the census takers, and if Mark Twain is fascinating on the street words fail to describe the delight of hearing him read in a parlor. His interpretation of Tuesday evening would have thoroughly discouraged the poet, for Mr. Clemens demonstrated the fact that Browning could be understood without Prof. Corson’s aid. In selections from “Uncle Remus” Mr. Clemens’ negro dialect is so perfect that the darkness may be felt, and his display of dramatic ability leads “Pierre” to wonder why he does not “create the title role” in the play which he is said to be writing…. The informal reception before and after the readings was an opportunity for animated conversation, and the partaking of ices and cakes. The entire entertainment was one which cannot soon be forgotten by Mrs. Stanchfield’s guests. Mr. Clemens’ daughters, Misses Susan and Clara, were both present at Mrs. Stanchfield’s, and as a matter of passing interest it might be pardonable to state that Miss Clara is named for Mrs. Stanchfield who has been, since girlhood, the intimate friend of Mrs. Clemens. / Pierre. [Sharlow, “Mark Twain Reads Browning Again: A Discovery in the Langdon-Crane Family Library at Quarry Farm” Mark Twain Journal 28:2 (Fall 1990) p.24-29].
November 4, 1888 addition – In Hartford, Sam wrote on a monographed card to Marcel Schwob. My Dear Sir: / You seem to think me the author of the original of this singularly unpleasant production. But I assure you [that] you have been deceived. I do commit crimes but they are not of this grade. / Very Truly Yours SL Clemens [Sotheby’s auction; June 19, 2003; sale 7915, Lot 64].
December 24, 1888 to January 5, 1890 addition – Lionel Barrymore, age 11, in tow with his father, Maurice Barrymore (born Blythe) met Mark Twain at the Hoffman House in N.Y. From his biography, Lionel writes: On one of my trips to New York I met Mark Twain. This came about when Maurice Barrymore was playing in Captain Swift at the Madison Theater. During one of my holidays I accompanied him to the Hoffman House, one of his favorite places to hold forth. A bushy gentleman entered and ordered a hot apple toddy….It is an aromatic, wonderful drink, very solacing, they say. Mark Twain had one of these. My father took me by the hand and introduced me. He knew Mark Twain well, as indeed he knew all the great people of the day. He introduced him correctly, of course, as “Mr. Clemens.” I sat there like a bump while my father and Mark Twain talked. Finally, my father turned to me. “Haven’t you got anything to say to Mr. Clemens?” he asked me. I muttered that no, I hadn’t, and continued to be a bump. …. Finally, my father made an effort to save me. “This is Mr. Clemens, Lionel,” he said. “But I expect you know him better as Mark Twain.’ I did indeed. We were old friends and had mutual acquaintances in Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn. So I looked Mark Twain in the eye then and began to blurt words at him. I began to tell him his own story, the part about Nigger Jim, and I gave it to him verbatim, mostly whole paragraphs at a time….My father moved to fetch me a kick under the table…but Mr. Clemens laid a hand on his arm and gave me his whole attention. At the end of my recital there were tears in his eyes. He beckoned a waiter and bought me an apple with spice and hot water, omitting, of course, the brandy. I was highly pleased with myself, unaware that I had pulled a potwalloping enormity. I saw Mark Twain often after that, but this was the main time [We Barrymores, by Lionel Barrymore as told to Cameron Shipp, (ca 1951), p. 25-6]. Notes: Lionel Barrymore (1878-1954); Maurice Barrymore (born Herbert Arthur Chamberlayne Blythe in India; 1849-1905) was the patriarch of the famous stage family, father to Lionel, John, and Ethel. He contracted syphilis, which caused his behavior to be erratic, and he ultimately died from the disease. Captain Swift opened at Madison Square Theater on Dec. 24, 1888 and ran through the season, closing on May 4, 1889; it is assumed here that the “holiday” Lionel referred to would most likely have been over the Christmas-New Year’s season; but the meeting described might have taken place any time during the play’s run. The play was a slightly altered stage piece produced by Dion Boucicault, and garnered good reviews. Undoubtedly Sam saw the play, though no record of it could be found, nor of any specific date or presence at the Hoffman House for Twain during this period, though he did stay there several times in 1890.
January 2, 1889 addition – Additional guests for this evening’s dinner have been identified from Parke-Bernet catalogs, 21-22 May 1957: They were neighbors William Gillette, and Charles Dudley Warner. Elsie Leslie (later Mrs. Milliken) remembered the dinner given for her: “Mr. Clemens put me at his right, although he did not sit at the head of the table. He told me his family never let him sit there, on account of the carving. ‘Elsie! I never could carve anything but soup & hash.’” Augustin Daly is not listed.
January 9, 1889 addition – In Sam’s letter to Johnston this date, he referred to a letter he wrote to Henry Perkins Goddard (1842-1916). Zon gives us an excerpt of this “not as yet cataloged” letter in which Sam remarks: “There I must be on my good behavior and try to be entertaining, but at your club I can smoke in peace and say to you men, ‘Talk, hang you! I’ll listen’” [321].
February 20, 1889 addition – The book that Benjamin P. Shillaber wrote Sam about (his letter not extant) was Mrs. Partington’s New Grip-Sack Filled With Fresh Things (1890) the last book Shillaber published before his death on Nov. 25, 1890. Sam answered on Feb. 20.
July 19, 1889 correction – Further review of Arthur C. Thornton’s letter of this date, as well as his prior letter of Dec. 31, 1886, reveals that he did not send Mark Twain a comedy book (as previously reported) but “the horrible conglomeration of puns…two years since, & also the cowardly composition…when I sent to you, the ‘remains’ as I termed them…of a copy of ‘Innocents Abroad,’ which was in shambles from so many readings. Thornton had been after a new copy back in 1886, and now asked for a photograph. On July 20, Sam forwarded Thornton’s letter to Franklin Whitmore, enclosing a letter to Thornton (not extant) and asking Whitmore to “put in one of those heliotype pictures of me.” See entry.
August 15 to 31, 1889 addition – Sam wrote a sketch unpublished until 2009: “Professor Mahaffy on Equality” [Who Is Mark Twain? xxvi; p.153-6]. Note: the title was assigned by the MTP.
November 28, 1889 addition – Norman Hapgood (1868-1937) played a part in Susie’s play, The Love Chase. Hapgood was the drama critic of the NY Commercial Advertiser and of the Bookman (1897- 1902), then editor of Collier’s Weekly (1903-1913). He remembered freezing up in Susie’s play in his 1930 reminiscence: In such a setting I found myself during vacations of my college years [1886-1890], and it was on my first visit that Margaret Warner took me across to the Clemens house, where I was promptly cast for the role of the lover in a play written in scenario outline by Mark Twain and Charles Dudley Warner. Susie Clemens, the beautiful and poetic oldest daughter of the humorist, was the leading girl; the words in these plays were improvised by the actors; and my orders were to go upon the stage and make a violent declaration of love to Susie. We had become friends at first sight, and more especially after a long walk in which the enthusiasm we both had for talking about English poetry, and quoting it, had full expression, and I was in truth not afraid of her, any more than a youth of that age is almost inevitably afraid of an especially lovely girl. The terror started only when I stepped out before the audience, of a dozen or so members of the group of families, under the sentence of making an open and continued declaration of consuming passion. My cheeks took fire, and not a single word would pass my lips. Susie, a seasoned actress, though several years my junior, did what trained artists on the professional stage do also in similar emergencies; she changed the direction of the plot immediately, and the girl it was who did the wooing. I stood and listened like a burning stick. When I stepped back from the Thespian boards at the end of that scene, it was to appear on any stage as an actor, alas, nevermore [The Changing Years – Reminiscences of Norman Hapgood (1930) p.205-6]. Notes: Hapgood was 21 insert; Susie Clemens 17. Clara remembered Hapgood: One stellar attraction in these gatherings was the dramatic critic and biographer, Norman Hapgood. He, too, visited in the neighborhood and gave us the great pleasure of his society. The brilliance of his mind and intellectual talents were evident at that early age when he was a freshman at Harvard College [MFMT 57]. Note source also pinpoints this to Thanksgiving. Note: Hapgood graduated in 1890, and in 1886 as a freshman, the only plays given by the Clemens’ girls were P&P performances; no performances on Thanksgiving that year, Nov. 25, were recorded by Susie or others. Also it should be noted that Hapgood observed Susie to be “a seasoned actress,” which was much more so the case at age 17 than 13. Salsbury also makes the mistake of placing discussion of Hapgood in Susie’s 13th year.
December, 1889 addition – Sam inscribed an early green cloth copy of CY to George L. Bell, a Pratt & Whitney toolmaker involved with the Paige typesetter: “Geo. L. Bell / with compts of / The Author / 1889.” Since the book was registered with the copyright office on Dec. 5, 1889, this is a very early specimen. [Alan C. Fox catalog one, n.d., Sherman Oaks, Calif.] Also: the other inscribed copies of CY to: S.J. Kirk, Annie E. Trumbull, F.H. Watts, and J.R. Newton, previously dated only 1889, should also be dated Dec. 1889, since CY was first deposited with the U.S. Copyright office on Dec. 5, 1889.
December 3, 1889 addition – The gentleman Sam and Bowen were writing about was W.D. Meares of Christchurch, N.Z. See Will Bowen’s answer Dec. 10.
February 2, 1890 correction – The poem Sam wrote Elsie Leslie that she later put with this date, the same as for the inscription in CY, was actually written on Mar. 5, 1890, so must have been sent later [MTP Fragment DV 152].
February 10, 1890 addition – Sam wrote in Hartford to Daniel Frohman. I have now finished the play as I would like it played in England (& “on the road” here)—Tom & Edward played by TWO persons. I have also finished it as it should be played when one person plays both of those parts,—for use in this COUNTRY. I will have the two versions type-writered here [MTP].
February 11, 1890 addition – In Hartford Sam wrote to John Brown, Jr. (“Jock”) in Scotland. Dear Mr. Brown—Both copies came, & we are reading & re-reading the one & lending the other to old-time adorers of Rab & his Friends. It is an exquisite book, the perfection of literary workmanship. It says in every line, “Don’t look at me, look at him,” & one tries to be good & obey; but the charm of the painter is so strong that one can’t keep his entire attention on the developing portrait, but must steal side-glimpses of the artist, & try to divine the trick of her felicitous brush. In this book the Doctor lives & moves just as he was. He was the most extensive slaveholder of his time, & the kindest, & yet he died without setting one of his bondmen free. We all send out very, very kindest regards [MTP: D.W. Forrest, Letters of Dr. John Brown, 1907, p.361]. Note: Dr. John Brown and His Sister Isabella: Outlines, by Elizabeth T. McLaren (1889); see Gribben p. 444. (added Aug. 28, 2010)
March 5, 1890 addition – Sam wrote “Ode to Elsie Leslie” on this date [MTP Fragments DV 152].
June 18 or June 24, 1890 addition – Sam headed this letter to Mrs. John P. Jones (Senator): “At the Factory / Hartford / Wednesday p.m.” These dates are calculated. My Dear Mrs. Jones: I tried to go through form Washington to Hartford at one stretch because we had guests at home & it didn’t seem fair to leave Mrs. Clemens without a lieutenant; so I took the 9:40 a.m. train—& botched the whole business; for I missed the Hartford train by 10 minutes & had to stay over in New York. I have to thank you for a most delightful day—though Mr. Goodman speaks of our invasion as a “call” in his modest Pacific Coast way. And once he called it a visit; where any honest jury would call it — visitation. However, what I am… …Maybe a little vacation will not set her back overmuch in her studies, & I greatly want to show her off before our children…I suppose you do not know that she put on the gloves with Mr. Goodman in the Cryptograph matter after dinner, & scored two points to his one. I have not seen so neat & satisfactory a battle in a long time. / If the Senator…were here now, he would see my machine doing wonders…. [Bonham’s auction June 27, 2006; Sale 14011, lot 3114]. Note: From this letter it’s clear that upon Sam’s return from Washington, he stayed over in N.Y. one night. Likely too he had an engagement to meet Mrs. Jones that he was unable to make. Sam and Goodman left N.Y. from Washington on June 13. After their return Goodman wrote from N.Y. to Sam on June 22. Their return from Washington was then sometime between Monday, June 16 (in which case the above letter was written on June 18), and June 22 (in which case the above letter was written June 24).
June 21, 1890 – Sam and Joe Goodman had returned from their trip to Washington by this date with Joe stopping in N.Y. and Clemens returning to Hartford. See: June 18 or June 24, 1890 addition.
July 1-2, 1890 addition – Vacationers at Onteora, N.Y. during this summer signed a group photograph. Thus the following names may be added to those at the park: W.F. Clarke, Lillie Hamilton Fish, Mary Knight Wood (Mrs. George Greenleaf Wood, Jr.), Candace Wheeler, Eleanor Hutton, and Dr. R. Heber Newton. Note: See existing entry for other names. See also Meltzer, p. 184 for the photograph with signatures.
October 12, 1890 addition – In Hartford, Sam answered Miss Alice Kingsbury’s request to lecture: “I reformed six years ago & I have not infested the platform since. I should’nt know how to read or speak now,” He thanked for her offer of hospitality, and sent “kindest regards” to her parents, and mentioned that “Business has carried me from place to place”, and talked about his daughters (“Susy & Clara were very little folk when you knew them. And Now Susy’s in college! It takes my breath away to think of it…”) [Bonham’s auction June 24, 2008; Sale 16202, Lot 112]. Note: The Kingsbury’s were acquaintances of the Clemenses in Hartford in the 1870s. F.J. Kingsbury was Alice’s father.
July 28, 1891 addition – In Aix-les-Bains, France Sam wrote to Samuel S. McClure: “I want to introduce to you in the way of business Dr. William Wakefield, one of the principal physicians of this place in the hope that you might need his pen, which is a practiced one” [Sotheby’s auction June 19, 2003, Sale NO7915, lot 46].
October 12, 1891 addition – Joseph Hatton’s production of P&P opened at the Strand Theatre in London.
November 5, 1891 addition – Sam signed the American Embassy register in Berlin, Germany and gave his Körnerstrasse address [Dickie 184].
1892 addition – Chatto & Windus published The Choice Humorous Works of Mark Twain [eBay item 250468985047 July 21, 2009]. 1892 addition/correction – Homburg, Germany. Sam and daughter Susy were walking on the street and met Miss Marie Corelli (born Mary Mackay; 1855-1924). On Apr. 6, 1897 Sam replied to an invitation by John Y. MacAlister to some gathering with Corelli. Sam replied, “…it would move me too deeply to see Miss Corelli. When I saw her last it was on the street in Hamburg, & Susy was walking with me” [MTP]. Note: The family was only in Homburg one known time–these five days in 1878, though Sam and Joe Twichell were there for two days Aug. 20 to 21, 1892; and Sam went again (alone?) on Aug. 25 and 26 to meet the Prince of Wales (see entries Vol. 2). Corelli, British novelist, would luncheon with Sam in 1907. She would become the best-selling UK female novelist of the early 20th century, though critics ripped her books. Dilemmas are often noted when using Sam’s Autobiographical dictations of events recalled after many years. Sam’s dictation of Aug. 16, 1907 suggests 1892 as the first meeting with Corelli. “I met Marie Corelli at a small dinner party in Germany fifteen years ago [ ca. 1892], and took a dislike to her at once, a dislike which expanded and hardened with each successive dinner course until when we parted at last, the original mere dislike had grown into a very strong aversion” [MTFWE 73] [Live Auctioneers, Mar. 6, 2009 Lot 35179]. Note: the dilemma here is that no other time spent in Hamburg (Homburg) was found besides these 3 periods, though it’s possible there were other visits there in 1892 while the Clemens family was staying at Bad Nauheim. In the 1878 period, Susy was only six; Corelli 23, and had not yet switched her career from music to writing (her first book, A Romance of Two Worlds (1886). The Clemens family was in Berlin in 1891-2, and it’s possible that they made a short visit to Homburg, a few hours away by train, though there is no record of such a trip—and, that Sam and Susy met Corelli on the street there in 1892. More research on Corelli’s whereabouts in 1878 and 1892 may prove to settle this question. For now, an addendum item has also been prepared for 1892, no specific date.
February 4, 1892 addition – A.F. Kingscote wrote Sam, the letter not extant but referred to in Kingscote’s Feb. 16 postcard
February 16, 1892 addition – A.F. Kingscote sent a postcard to Sam: “I sincerely trust that you are getting better. My letter of 4th reached you quite safely, I trust? It will give me great satisfaction to hear from you yrself soon how you really feel” [Live Auctioneers, Mar. 6, 2009 Lot 35179].
February 18, 1892 addition – In Berlin, Germany Sam wrote to Chatto & Windus in regards to A.F. Kingscote’s several overly-familiar letters: Who is Mr. Kingscote? He keeps writing me. If an answer is due him, I will furnish it—otherwise not. Please inquire about him for me. In a week I shall be well enough to travel—no, in 10 days. Then I shall go to the Riviera for my health. I haven’t seen the “Idler” yet. / Ys sincerely / SL Clemens [Live Auctioneers, Mar. 6, 2009 Lot 35179]. Note: Idler, the magazine featured “The Conglomerate Interview” with Sam in its Feb. 1892 issue. There was also a play Idler by Charles Haddon Chambers, which the auctioneers mistakenly cited as the source of his remark. See Feb. 1892 entry.
June 19, 1892 correction – The first printing of Sam’s letter to the unidentified doctor was not the Guide Through North and Central America, etc. but the North German Lloyd’s World’s Columbian Exposition 1893 (1893). Letter not yet catalogued by MTP.
September 26, 1892 addition – Sam’s A.D. for this date includes: Sept. 26. ’92. Arrived in Florence. Got my head shaved. This was a mistake. Moved to the villa in the afternoon. Some of the trunks brought up in the evening by the contadino—if that is his title. He is the man who lives on the farm and takes care of it for the owner, the Marquis. The contadino is middle-aged and like the rest of the peasants—that is to say, brown, handsome, good-natured, courteous, and entirely independent without making any offensive show of it. He charged too much for the trunks, I was told. My informant explained that this was customary [MTP]. Note: see Sept. 29 A.D.
September 29, 1892 addition – Sam’s A.D. for this date includes: Sept. 29, ’92 I seem able to forget everything except that I have had my head shaved. No matter how closed I shut myself away from drafts it seems to be always breezy up there. But the main difficulty is the flies. They like it up there better than anywhere else; on account of the view, I suppose. It seems to me that I have never seen any flies before that were shod like these. These appear to have talons. Wherever they put their foot down they grab. They walk over my head all the time, and cause me infinite torture. It is their park, their club, their summer resort. They have garden parties there, and conventions, and all sorts of dissipation. And they fear nothing. All flies are daring, but these are more daring than those of other nationalities. These cannot be scared away by any device. They are more diligent, too, than the other kinds: they come before daylight and stay till after dark. But there are compensations. The mosquitoes are not a trouble. There are very few of them, they are not noisy, and not much interested in their calling. A single unkind word will send them away, if said in English, which impresses them because they do not understand it, they come no more that night. We often see them weep when they are spoken to harshly. I have got some of the eggs to take home. If this breed can be raised in our climate they will be a great advantage. There seem to be no fleas here. This is the first time we have struck this kind of an interregnum in fifteen months. Everywhere else the supply exceeds the demand [MTP].
1893 addition – Pudd’nhead Wilson was written in a fairly short period of time, which he wrote Fred Hall that he’d finished drafting on Dec. 12, 1892. Perhaps as an afterthought or cut through subsequent revision, was the following page Sam sent to the printer, offering various symbols be inserted in facsimile at the heads of chapters. The idea was discarded before the book was published Nov. 28, 1894 [MTP]. See insert page.
January 2, 1893 addition – At the Villa Viviani, Settignano, Florence, Italy, Sam used this date on his introduction to PW, titled “A Whisper to the Readers”.[16; 1996 Oxford facsimile edition].
February 25, 1893 after addition – On Nov. 3 and Nov. 10, 1892 Sam had written President Grover Cleveland on Frank Mason’s (US Consul at Frankfurt) behalf, addressing his letters to one-year- old “Baby Ruth” Cleveland. On Feb. 25, 1893 in a letter to Mason Sam wrote, “I will inquire after that letter I sent to Mr. Cleveland,” meaning it still had not been answered. The MTP gives Cleveland’s later response as 1892 without day or month, citing Robert McElroy’s Grover Cleveland: The Man and the Statesman. (1923). This response, in Cleveland’s hand, is judged to have been sent sometime in 1893 after Sam’s Feb. 25 to Mason: Miss Ruth Cleveland begs to acknowledge the receipt of Mr. Twain’s letter, and to say that she took the liberty of reading it to the President, who desires her to thank Mr. Twain for his information and to say to him that Captain Mason will not be disturbed in the Frankfort Consulate. The President also desires Miss Cleveland to say that if Mr. Twain knows of any other cases of this kind he would be greatly obliged if he will write him concerning them at his earliest convenience. [McElroy 14].
April 14, 1893 addition – Sam’s letter of this date to Charles M. Underhill, was later published in The Colophon 1.4 (Spring 1936), p. 633-5; though accurately summarized in Vol. II (together with Sam’s hilarious envelope address to Underhill), it becomes instructive, due to the salutation that Sam used, to show the whole letter and reveal the back-story behind the unusual salutation: Dear Dombrowski: I have worked at the Adam Diary until I have got it to suit me—therefore I will forward it to you in the morning. Irving can send the check to Elmira, (payable to the order of C.J. Langdon), where I shall make a little visit some days hence. Some time or other I wish to re-teach you the uncertain game of Sixty-six when you are not busy. With warm regards to you and Mrs. Underhill and all the house of Underhill, I am / Sincerely yours / S.L. Clemens. [Note: in the 1936 publication, Charles M. Underhill’s son explained that the label “Dombrowski” was given to his father by Twain, who, “over twenty years before” at the Brevoort House in New York, Underhill, Twain and J.D.F Slee played the card game “Sixty-six” after a postponed meeting of coal men. Sam, never a good loser, and lost “hour after hour” to Underhill. “You’re a —— Dombrowski!” Sam exclaimed. Dombrowski was “the arch conspirator and communist leader in the French Revolution ….” Probably Ladislaus Dombrowski of the French Civil War of 1871. His name was also sometimes given as Jeroslas Ladislaus Dombrowski. Twain would have been aware of what was going on in France at this time. He would have read 1871 newspaper reports of Dombrowski’s misadventure and fate. Yet, such anecdotes as the NYC card game are, sadly, often undatable. As of yet, no time before 1873 could Sam be placed in NYC with Slee and Underhill.]
August 29, 1893 addition – In Franzensbad, Germany, Livy wrote to Sam: Youth my own darling; I am only going to send you a line today, and with it I enclose the letter from Frau von Versen I rec’d a lovely letter from Mrs. Hillyer this morning they are in Homburg…. Dear blessed Miss Jane [Jean] I must tell you an experience that I had with her yesterday—I sent her with Julienne to get some Cognac. When I put the Cognac in my milk in the evening I found the milk was ruined; then I tasted the cognac, that was the most wretched stuff that I had ever tasted. I found that Jean had bought me cheap cognac. She evidently thought in the present state of our finances I must get used to drinking what was well within the range of our purse. … [MTP]. Note: the text of the TS varies somewhat from Harnsberger’s (p. 117-18), and one correction is made here from “Miss Jane” to Miss Jean, which Harnsberger shows, and “Jean” later shows in this TS. Harnsberger misdates the letter as “September 21, 1893, unpublished letter” [278n16]. Also, the letter from Frau von Versen is not extant, but on Nov. 2 he wrote daughter Clara, directing her to call on von Versen “Immediately.” Added Oct. 28, 2010.
September 12, 1893 addition – At the Kaiserhaus in Franzensbad, Germany, Livy wrote to Sam, concerned about the possible expenses of living in Paris, and considering each daughter’s needs Youth my own darling: Today we have a bright cool day, the weather is about as it is with us the last of Oct. or first of Nov. I must own that I greatly dread the journey without you, you think you bother me but you relieve me of a great deal of care and I find when you are gone how much I lean upon you, you pet. I have been reading the Paris guide book lately and it seems to me impossible for us to live in Paris in the present state of our finances. The expenses there will be entirely endless, of course I can never stir without a cab and the girls can not go about either much without one…. Susy thinks that for her it would be just as well and even better to be in the suburbs….Susy feels that she wants to put all her time and all her strength on her singing this coming Winter….I do not know how Clara will feel about it all, and for Jean I am afraid it will not be good to go into a suburb, because she wants to go to school…as she lacks so for companionship over here and she needs it so much [MTP]. Note: Clara Clemens had gone with her father to America, and at this time she was in Elmira visiting. Sam was in NYC. Added Oct. 28, 2010.
December 19, 1893 addition – The Mrs. Bunner referred to was Alice Learned Bunner (Mrs. Henry Cuyler Bunner) (b. ca.1861). Alice was a contributor to Scribner’s and other magazines; Henry editor of Puck. In Sam’s June 6, 1899 to her he referred again to the silhouette of him she had made.
1894 correction – The speculation about the date Mark Twain met Theodor Herzl has been resolved; the date was Apr. 5, 1894 in Paris, where Herzl was a journalist working for the Viennese paper Neue Freie Presse. The paragraph about Herzl has been added to Apr. 5, 1894 and taken from 1894 [Mark Twain Quarterly 9.1 (Winter 1951): 16-20: “Mark Twain in Paris”].
April 5, 1894 addition – At the British Embassy, where he gave a reading for the benefit of British and American schools in Paris, Sam “briefly” met Theodor Herzl (1860 -1904), later known as “the father of Zionism.” Convinced that Jews would never be assimilated and accepted in Europe, Herzl almost singlehandedly promoted forming the state of Israel and worked to organize the movement. Herzl was a journalist for the Neue Freie Presse in Paris reporting on the Dreyfus case. Sam and Theodor would meet up again in 1898 in Vienna [Dolmestch 129; Oren 284; Mark Twain Quarterly 9.1 (Winter 1951): 16-20: “Mark Twain in Paris”]. Note: this date had previously only been conjectured as either Apr. 5 or June 11. The last source listed confirms Apr. 5.
January 15, 1894 addition – At 11.30 a.m. at the Players Club in N.Y.C. Sam wrote to Laurence Hutton. “Dear Hutton: Twichell is here at the Club. Can you be here at 1 p.m. or at latest 1.30 & eat that luncheon?” [MTP undated file]. Note: comparing this note with the first letter to Livy of the same date: “Joe has just arrived (11.30). We can’t go to Brooklyn, for Julia is in bed with asthma, so I have sent a messenger to fetch Hutton here to luncheon.” The two places, times, persons sets the date of this note, which was not mailed but sent by messenger. Thanks to JoDee Benussi for sleuthing this one.
February 25, 1894 addition – At the Players Club in N.Y.C. Sam also wrote to Laurence Hutton, heading it “Sunday night.” Dear Hutton: / In the meantime I have engaged to read with Riley to-morrow evening. Therefore I send this ticket to you, for maybe you can use it. Please thank Hoyt for me. With love for Mrs. Hutton…[MTP undated file]. Note: Clemens only gave one reading with James Whitcomb Riley, on Feb. 26 and 27, 1894; Sam was also living at the Players during this time. Hoyt is likely Charles Hale Hoyt, drama critic; see Feb. 17.
February 26 and 27, 1894 – See addenda for Mar. 3, 1894.
March 3, 1894 addition – The function Sam was to read for has been identified. On Feb. 26 and 27 Sam shared the platform with James Whitcomb Riley and Douglass Sherley. Boewe writes: Sleet and snow and strong winds hit New York City with such force that the Madison Square Garden Concert Hall was sparsely filled on 26 February, the first night of the advertised Twain -Riley performance. The New York Times reviewer, referring to a Twain who “loitered through several of his back numbers,” gave grudging approval, noting that the audience “was convulsed with determined merriment.” Riley, as usual, was praised for his skill, but Sherley got scant mention. After the Tuesday 27 February performance, to compensate for the bad weather, a third engagement was added, netting Mark Twain another $250 when he appeared with the duo at Chickering Hall on Saturday evening, 3 March. Twain left for Europe the next day, but by then Riley was too ill to move into Twain’s now-vacant room at the Players’ Club [“On Stage and Off with James Whitcomb Riley and Mark Twain,” [Traces 7.4 (Fall, 1995): 22-3]. Note: Boewe makes one error here—Sam did not sail on Mar. 4 but on Mar. 7.
March 4, 1894 / April 26, 1894 addition – On Apr. 26, Nikola Tesla invited Sam, along with Robert Underwood Johnson, Francis Marion Crawford (1854-1909), Italian-born American novelist (nephew of Julia Ward Howe), and Joseph Jefferson to his New York laboratory, on South Fifth Avenue (See Johnson’s Remembered Yesterdays, p.400). Krumme tells the tale, noting that “The friendship of the two men is well-documented, albeit slightly unusual,” and that “the two forged a strong and enduring friendship, meeting often at the The Player’s Club in Manhattan or in Tesla’s laboratory,” Krumme continues: It was there that the first photographs ever to make use of phosphorescent light were taken. Twain went to experience the photography and “take high voltage sparks through [his] body,”1 as Tesla joked, at least twice in 1894, on Mar. 4 and again on April 26. Johnson described the experience: We were frequently invited to witness his experiments, which included…the production of electrical vibrations of an intensity not before achieved. Lighting-like flashes of the length of fifteen feet were an every-day occurrence, and his tubes of electric light were used to make photographs of many of his friends as souvenir of their visits…I was one of a group consisting of Mark Twain…and others who had the unique experience of being thus photographed2 [“Mark Twain and Nikola Tesla: Thunder and Lightning,” Berkeley Engineering paper, 4 Dec. 2000]. [Krumme’s quotations: 1: Tesla, Man Out of Time(1981) by Margaret Cheney; 2: Wizard: The Life and Times of Nikola Tesla (1996) by Marc J. Seifer.Krumme does not supply a source authority for her Mar. 4 claim, whereas the Apr. 26 date which included Twain, Johnson, and Joe Jefferson is confirmed by Francis Marion Crawford’s Apr. 27, 1894 letter to his wife, Elizabeth Christophers Berden Crawford, which includes this interesting passage about the visit and a description of Tesla: Tesla wished to make some historical photographs of the experiments on Johnson [3 words illegible] the three biggest celebrities he could lay hands on, to wit, Mark Twain, Joseph Jefferson, the famous old actor and myself. We all went down together, Jefferson greatly interested in the whole thing, Clemens greatly amusing, and I very curious about it. The great Tesla is a man of thirty seven, about my height, but even thinner, and painfully narrow shouldered though very erect. He has a keen tired face with a big nose, and much smooth black hair with very thoughtful eyes [MS Am 2206 (5) Houghton Library, Harvard University]. Note: Sam was in the first group of photographs made by phosphorescent light. See his photograph, with Tesla in the dark background on p. 201 of Meltzer. Also, in Remembered Yesterdays, see Marion Crawford’s photograph in the same session after p. 402. Four photographs (including these) were later published in The Century, 49.6 (April 1895) in “Tesla’s Oscillator and Other Inventions” p. 916-933, by Thomas Commerford Martin. It is noted that in this article the photo of Twain is labeled “January 1894” (the online site of Cornell shows this issue but the pictures are unclear). Krumme gives another visit of Sam to Tesla’s lab, which seems to be discrete from this one, and so is assigned the Apr. 26 date; see entry. In fact, however, there may have been several visits, as various inventors often mesmerized Clemens, and Tesla was a particularly brilliant and prescient one. See also Mar. 2 and Mar. 4, 1894 entries, Vol. II. Krumme continues with what seems to be another visit by Sam to Tesla’s laboratory: Tesla had been perfecting a mechanical oscillator, a sort of engine that would produce alternating current of a high frequency. The inventor had noticed an interesting effect of the machine: it produced significant vibrations. Tesla wondered if these vibrations might have therapeutic or health benefits, and one day when Mark Twin was at his lab the author asked if he might experience these vibrations himself. As the story goes, Mr. Twain stood on a platform of the machine while Tesla set the oscillator into operation. Twain was enjoying himself greatly and exclaimed: “This gives you vigor and vitality.” After some time Tesla warned the writer that he should come down, but Twain was having fun and refused. Tesla again insisted, but Twain stayed on the machine for several minutes more until, suddenly, he exclaimed: “Quick, Tesla. Where is it?” Tesla directed his friend to the restroom. Twain had experienced first hand what had been known to laboratory workers for some time: the laxative effect of the machine’s vibrations [3-4]. Added Oct. 27, 2010
May 11 to July 14 1894 addition – Sam was en route to Southampton, England when the Pullman Strike began. The American Railway Union, led by Eugene V. Debs, called a boycott of all Pullman railway cars. By the time President Cleveland dispatched troops to Chicago after railroad owners asked the Federal government to intercede, Sam was in France. Riots resulted, peaking on July 6, 1894; at this time Sam was in Paris. On July 7, 1894 when Debs and others were arrested, Sam was boarding the S.S. Paris bound for New York, and news of the 24 killed in the riots with many others injured, would have reached Europe. A single page of notes undated by Sam likely took place just before or on his voyage home. He arrived in New York on July 14, 1894. These notes seem to be a summary of research about loss of life, including an increasing number shot in the Pullman Strike, probably from various dispatches received: FIRE Abuse our fire-engine system which we are so proud of. We ought to be ashamed of buildings which necessitate it. === And Johnstown Dam 78 === Shot at Pullman —— 78 “ “ 79 “ “ 80 81 All this is legitimate work & entitled to thanks. [www.historyforsale.com Sept. 13, 2009, Document 65491]
October 19, 1894 addition – Sam inscribed and autographed the back side of a lithograph picturing the cathedral at Rouen, France: “With the best respects of / Truly Yours / Mark Twain / Rouen, Oct 19/94” [eBay item 400104782549 Feb. 21, 2010]. Note: For some reason the seller of this item thought it was worth $44,500. What would Twain think? See insert for cathedral side
December 25, 1894 addition – Sam inscribed a green half-morocco copy of PW to Mrs. Helen Hopekirk Wilson: “To Mrs. Hopekirk Wilson / with comp’ts of / Pudd’nhead Wilson / by the hand & with the affectionate regards of / Mark Twain / Paris, Xmas, 1894” [Bleak House Books, catalogue one, item 117, 1995].
April 1895 addition – Century Magazine included “Tesla’s Oscillator and Other Inventions,” by p. 916-33, by Thomas Commerford Martin, which featured several photographs made for the first time with phosphorescent light; one with Robert Underwood Johnson, one with Francis Marion Crawford, one with Joseph Jefferson, and two with Mark Twain. See Mar. 1, and Apr. 26, 1894 entries in addenda.
May to July, 1895 – Sam wrote a sketch unpublished until 2009: “Frank Fuller and My First New York Lecture” [Who Is Mark Twain? xxv; p. 5-30]. Note: name of the piece was assigned by the MTP.
May 18, 1895 addition – The Critic for Saturday, May 25, 1895 (p.392) ran the following short article on Mark Twain’s NY arrival, which gives us some idea of Clemens’ activities during the day and evening of his arrival back in New York: —Mark Twain, who arrived from Europe on May 18, went to see the dramatization of “Pudd’nhead Wilson” for the first time on Saturday night last. Someone spied Mr. Clemens in his box and called upon him for a speech. “Never in my life,” he said, “have I been able to make a speech without preparation, and I assure you that this position in which I find myself is one totally unexpected. I have been hemmed in all to-day by W.D. Howells and other frivolous persons, and we have been talking everything in the world except that of which speeches are constructed. Then, too, seven days on the water is not conducive to speech-making. I will only say that I congratulate Mr. Mayo. He has certainly made a beautiful play out of my rubbish. His is a charming gift. Confidentially, I have always had an idea that I was well equipped to write plays, but I have never encountered a manager who agreed with me.” In August Mr. Clemens will start on a lecturing-tour around the world, which will end in May, 1896. San Francisco will be the starting-point…Wednesday night, by the way, was a “Mark Twain night” at the Herald Square Theatre, Mr. Clemens being present attended by a number of prominent literary people. He made a capital speech. [Note: the article refers here to the May 22 speech Sam gave at the performance of PW play by Frank Mayo. It is notable that Sam would have gone to the theater in the evening, after just arriving in NY at 9 a.m. that day. The article somewhat awkwardly identifies the date of this appearance and speech as May 18, since from the article’s date, May 25, “Saturday night last” would have been May 18.] Added Oct. 28, 2010.
July 2, 1895 note: – For an interesting backstory on the “Wager Stones” see “Letters from Clara Stanchfield” in The Twainian 26.3 (May-June 1967 p.1 -3), which includes Clara’s letter to Paine of May 28, 1911, recounting her presence at the discussion on immortality between Sam and Mrs. Thomas K. Beecher.
July 19, 1895 addition – The Clemens party boarded the steamer T.S. Faxton for the short voyage to Mackinaw Island [Overland with MT 27-8].
July 26, 1895 addition – Winnipeg, Manitoba: several photographs were taken of the Clemens party and other unidentified ladies on the roof of the Hotel Manitoba and at the train station at Gretna, Manitoba [Overland with MT 31-6].
July 27, 1895 addition – Winnipeg, Manitoba: several photographs were taken of the Clemens party and the unidentified “young English gentlemen” at their “English host” and at a buffalo enclosure. Sam is not in these pictures, probably due to his other activities listed for this date [Overland with MT 37-9].
December 25, 1895 addition – The Lloyd family Sam spent time with in Stoningham, near Melbourne is identified as Mr. and Mrs. Charles Lloyd. Sam listed them in the “21 or 22” books he wanted Andrew Chatto to ship for him in his note of Feb. 1, 1897. Shortly after this request he sent a change of address for Mrs. Lloyd as Lissadurn, South Yarrow, Toorak Road, Melbourne [Feb. 1-3, 1897 to Chatto].
January 23, 1896 addition – In Bombay Sam wrote a letter endorsing Glimpses of India, a Grand Photographic History of the Land of Antiquity, the Vast Empire of the East¸ by J.H. Furneaux (1896). Kevin Mac Donnell’s entry for this book (Firsts Magazine 8.9 (Sept. 1998), p.41) states: “This English edition, limited to 1,000 numbered copies for American issue (designated the Imperial Edition) is the only one to contain Twain’s letter of endorsement, dated at Bombay, India, January 23, 1896. The previous editions contain no letter. [MTHR [Jan 4 to Unrecorded by Johnson and BAL.” The letter was included in later editions of the book, including the 1992 edition by Aryan Books Int’l, New Delhi. Dear Sir: / The “Glimpses of India” is certainly a work of very high merit. It is worthy of its great subject…it a higher compliment than that. I have not seen before such satisfying illustrations of the noble and beautiful architecture of India.
June 28, 1896 & July 1, 1896 correction – Harriet Beecher Stowe died on the latter date, the former reported was “an exaggeration”—apologies offered for this attempt to rush her along. In the peace of a quiet home, with her two daughters, Eliza and Harriet, her sister, Mrs. Isabella Beecher Hooker, and her devoted nurse, Mrs. Arms, at her bedside, Mrs. Harriet Beecher Stowe passed away yesterday at noon. [Hartford Courant, July 2 1896 “Death of Mrs. Stowe” p.6].
July 10, 1896 – In Cape Town, Sam inscribed an aphorism to Rose Ornstein, daughter of Rev. Abraham Frederick Ornstein (1836-1895), London-born pioneer minister in Australia and South Africa. “Truth is the most valuable thing we have. Let us economise it. / Truly Yours / Mark Twain / Cape Town, July 10/96” [eBay by glyniscoe item #270562414619 Apr. 12, 2010]. Sam also inscribed a 5” x 4” photograph of himself (taken by Falk Studios in Australia) “Sincerely Yours” to A.M. Robeson, with whom he had toured the Kimberley mines on July 2. He was in Cape Town, so either Robeson accompanied him from Kimberley or he mailed the photo [ABE books, Sophie Duprie Bookseller #SD30701 Apr. 18, 2009].
October or early November, 1896 addition – Baetzhold writes citing Sam’s notebook: In October or early November, 1896, he [Sam] visited Thomas Carlyle’s house in nearby Cheyne Row, where he was especially impressed at seeing a scrap of manuscript from The French Revolution, the only one to survive the burning of the original first volume [196: NB 39 TS 21]. Note: translated to revised NB # as in MTNJ 3.
December 31, 1896 addition – This the date of the two contracts H.H. Rogers worked out over several months to secure Mark Twain and his family returns from a Uniform Edition of his works. There were two contracts, which may be found in MTHHR Appendixes, B & C, pages 678 and 682 respectively. The first contract was between Harper & Brothers, the American Publishing Co., and Mrs. Olivia L. Clemens. The second agreement was between Olivia L. Clemens and Samuel L. Clemens, The American Publishing Co., and Charles Dudley Warner. Sam and Livy signed the contracts in London on Jan. 4, 1897 Rogers]. Harper & Brothers did not sign until Feb. 26, 1897; Frank Bliss until Mar. 4, 1897 262n1].