January 2 Monday – In Florence Sam wrote to Laurence Hutton, who was in Egypt, “jackassing around in that summer land & viewing the Pyramids & things.” Sam reported finishing the book (probably PW) but that revising it “nearly killed” him — “Revising books is a mistake.”
I see the Umbria is reported pawing her way gradually homeward & likely to arrive in the course of time. So Harper is all right, no doubt.
January 3 Tuesday – Sam added a PS to his Jan. 2 to Whitmore.
Is Mr. Arnot’s receipt for $50,000 worth of royalties still in the Safety Deposit, or in the course of the Mallory negociations did it get back into his hands? SLC
Merry-next-Christmas & Happy-last-New years to you!
It is a wonderful day — Florence is a ghost — looks a ghost — this is the first time she has put on snow. And, as always, it is merely to show herself off [MTP].
January 9 Monday – In Florence, Sam answered a “very charming letter” (not extant) from daughter Clara. He wanted to forward her letter to Ned Bunce, as he was sure he would enjoy it.
January 13 Friday – In Florence Sam wrote to William Webster Ellsworth (1855-1936), at this time secretary of the Century Co., (later president from 1913-1916) complimenting him on the layout and advertising for “The £1,000,000 Bank-Note,” which ran in the January issue of Century Magazine. Ellsworth was from an old Connecticut political family; his father, by the same name, was once governor. He was a great-grandson of Noah Webster, and a member of the Players Club and the Century Club.
January 14 Saturday – In Florence Sam wrote to Julia Newell Jackson, widow of Dr. A. Reeves Jackson, of the Quaker City excursion.
[Dr. Jackson’s death] cuts short an intimate and most valued friendship of a quarter of a century, and removes from my narrowing circle one whom I sincerely loved, and whose place none can fill as he filled it [MTP].
January 15 Sunday – The New York Times, p.8 ran news Sam would have surely heard about.
THE “ENTERPRISE” TO SUSPEND.
D.O. MILLS SAYS IT DOES NOT PAY TO KEEP IT GOING.
January 18 Wednesday – At the Villa Viviani, Settignano, near Florence, Sam wrote to Mary Mason Fairbanks, who had moved to Boston to be with her daughter. Sam tells of the family:
January 21 Saturday – At the Villa Viviani in Florence, Sam wrote to eighteeen-year-old daughter Clara in Berlin. She had written (not extant) about dining with 40 officers and no other females; he was chagrined.
January 22 Sunday – The San Francisco Examiner published “Daggett’s Recollections,” a description of Mark Twain’s appearance on his first arrival in Virginia City (before Sam used the pen name). [Tenney 21; Fatout, MT in Va City p.7-8].
January 23 Monday – Sam mailed his endorsed notes for Mount Morris Bank loans [Jan. 24 to Hall].
Mary B. Willard wrote to Sam in response to his Jan. 21 chewing-out letter of daughter Clara:
January 24 Tuesday – In Florence, Italy Sam wrote to Frederick J. Hall.
I sent the notes yesterday.
A friend of ours who is intimate with Alden says he was aggravated because he did not get the £1000000 Story; so I stopped my work a day or two ago to see if I could write something that would meet his views. However I’ll not send the article now yet awhile.
January 28 Saturday – In Florence, Sam wrote a short note to Andrew Carnegie, and enclosed it in a letter to Frederick J. Hall:
Won’t you let me introduce to you my partner, Mr. F.J. Hall — & won’t you let him submit a project of mine to you & see what you think of it? [MTP]. Note: likely the desire to unload LAL.
To Hall:
January 29 Sunday – In the evening, Sam dined with William James. James wrote the next day (Jan. 30) to Francis Boott:
January, after – A calling card of Mr. Thomas Marion Williams is assigned to this time period. Sam wrote on the card, “He’s a fool. Webster could always select a fool” [MTP]. Note: Williams was the man excited about and engaged in marketing the LAL series.
February 1 Wednesday – Sam joined with 64 other Americans residing in Florence, signing a petition to President Grover Cleveland attesting to “the character & efficient services of” James Verner Long as American consul. 25 letters were included with the petition in support of Long [MTP: TS Richard Wolffers Auctions catalog, June, 19 1992 Item 738].
February 2 Thursday – In Florence Sam wrote to Orion and Mollie Clemens, marking the letter “PRIVATE”. Sam describes a cure for chilblains (inflammation of the small blood vessels in the skin in response to cold), amounting to nothing more than saturating the area with kerosene at bedtime.
February 3 Friday – In Florence Sam wrote a long letter to Frederick J. Hall touching on several subjects, all financial or literary. He asked Hall to carry his letter down to Frank Bowman of D. Slote & Co. and ask, probably about income from the scrapbooks.
February 5 Sunday – In Florence in the evening, Sam wrote to daughter Clara:
It is lonesome, Ben, dear, and I turn to you for company. Susy has gone down town to a ball at the Countess de Something-or-other’s with Mademoiselle [Lançon]; and Jean and Mamma are gone to bed.
There’s nothing to think about, nothing to talk about, nothing to write about — so there is nothing for you and me to do but look at each other across Germany and the intervening lands and be silently sociable.
February 6 Monday – The N.Y. Times, p.3 under “Literary Notes” ran this squib:
— A volume of short stories by Mark Twain, to be published in March by Charles L. Webster & Co. will contain his “£1,000,000 Bank Note,” besides several other tales which have never yet appeared in book form.
February 11 Saturday – Annie Neumann Hofer wrote to Sam asking if she could translate “The £1,000,000 Bank-Note” story into German, and possibly his next collection as well. She had contacted T. Fisher Unwin, editor of the Century Magazine in London, and was referred to Sam. She wrote that the German Kürschner Magazine was interested; she offered to split royalties 50% with Sam.
February 12 Sunday – In Florence, Sam wrote a short note, probably to T. Fisher Unwin, editor of the Century Magazine in London, who’d been contacted by Mrs. Annie Neumann Hofer (see Feb. 11).
It is too bad that they bother you with these things, but I suppose they don’t know where to find me. And when they find me it doesn’t help much, because I send them to Chatto [MTP].
February 13 Monday – Sam sent Annie Neumann Hofer’s Feb. 11 letter to Chatto & Windus early in the week (Feb. 13-15) and asked them to please answer her. It was his custom to forward all such requests to his appropriate publisher.
February 14 Tuesday – In Florence Sam wrote to Miss Marian Phelps, daughter of William Phelps.
The purpose of this Valentine is to wish you well, & thank you cordially for your kindnesses to our Clara, & also to hope that you are happy & will remain so. …
The reason I am not writing with a pen is because I haven’t got one where I can put my hands on it. Also because Valentines are not written with pens, but always with a pencil. It is ancient custom, & amounts to law.
February 20 Monday – In Florence, Sam wrote to Katherine C. Bronson (1834-1901), wealthy New Yorker, and a central figure in Venetian society; also related to Thomas DeKay Winans. In 1879-80 she hosted such luminaries as Henry James, James McNeill Whistler, Robert Browning, and John Singer Sargent. She also had an intimate friendship with Robert Browning after the death of Elizabeth Barrett Browning.
February 21 Tuesday – Frank Bliss of American Publishing Co. wrote to Sam proposing a cheaper edition of his Sketches New and Old, paying him a ten per cent royalty on it. [MTP; Mar.8 to Bliss].
February, mid and last week – Susy Clemens finished a letter during “the last days of February” to Louise Brownell. It was a long letter, probably written over a two week period from mid-month. In part: