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Conventions Used


‡ – The double dagger was used in reprints of vol. I and II to designate additions or corrections
in later print runs. These now may now be accessed online:
http://marktwaindaybyday.webs.com


Dates: I have followed the conventions used by the University of California Press on the
volumes of Mark Twain’s Letters, except I offer the day of the week, which in some cases is
helpful. To wit:


October 5 Thursday – Sources indicate this is a confirmed date, or a deduced date from events
or other evidence. Firm dates come before conjectured or circa dates and date ranges.


October 3? Tuesday – The question mark indicates a conjecture of October 3. Conjecture dates are listed separately
following firm dates.


June 24–29 Saturday – A span of dates joined by a dash indicates a less specific conjecture: the date or dates of
composition are thought to fall within this span. Day of the week is ascribed to the last date in
the span. The last date in a period is noted by its day of the week. Such entries are listed
separately.


June 24 to 29 Saturday – Not a conjecture, but an assertion that some event ran from June 24
through June 29. Such date ranges are listed separately.
May 2 and 3 Friday – Not a conjecture, but an assertion that the event or activity occurred at least in part on both
days. Such inclusive dates are listed separately.


May 1 Friday ca. – A conjecture of circa a date, month, year or season. Similar to May 1 st ? but with less
specificity. May also be specified as “on or before,” or “on or after.” Circa dates are listed
separately.


February – Items for which only a month is known, or for magazine-type publications issued for a given
month.


1863 – Items for which a year is known, but not a month or date.

Note: Dates are arranged in order; spans of dates and single dates are sorted by the first date in
a span. Conjectured dates are usually separate from known or consensus dates. Thus there are
separate entries for May 1 Friday, and May 1? Friday; May 17 Thursday would follow May
12–20 Sunday. Occasionally entries are labeled “Mid-month” or “End of Month” or “Early
Spring,” etc. Confirmed dates are listed first.


Attribution/Names:


Where unsigned articles have been ascribed to Sam Clemens by major researchers, I have
followed their lead but specified, “attributed.” “Sam” when shown without surname is used
throughout to mean Mark Twain/ Samuel L. Clemens; likewise “Livy” designates Olivia
Louise Clemens; “Susy” has been chosen for Olivia Susan Clemens over the spelling “Susie,”
which is seen in earlier references to her. “Jane Clemens” is used for Sam’s mother, “Pamela”
or “Pamela Moffett” for his sister, “Orion” for his brother. For certain dominant people in
Sam’s life, or dominant within certain periods, last names only are given: Howells, Twichell,
Cable, etc. Middle names are now given if known; if not, a middle initial; some middle initials
are omitted, when reference is clearly to one person, such as Hjalmar Boyesen. “Frank” is often
given for “Francis”; “Joe” for Joseph, when the person was a familiar figure in Sam’s life, such
as Joe Twichell, Joe Goodman, Frank Bliss, etc. There are exceptions, as when H.H. Rogers is
used for Henry Huttleston Rogers, etc.


Citations:


MLA formatting is followed for in-text and Works Cited, with exceptions made for MT
“standard” abbreviations such as MTBus or MTLTP (see abbreviations), and follow the MT
Project’s conventions when possible. Use of [brackets] for in-text citations, as well as editor’s
inserts within quoted text. When the writer uses [brackets] these are replaced by parentheses or
{curly brackets}.


Some exceptions are made to standard MT scholarly convention, such as MTL with volume
numbers used for the MTP volumes, whereas this abbreviation in the past was used for Paine’s
volumes of letters, which I cite as MTLP, if I use them at all. A few conventions are modified,
such as LM instead of LoM for Life on the Mississippi. See Abbreviations for the full list.
Nearly every date given requires a citation, though some are calculated from sources. Because
both primary and secondary sources are used, errors and omissions may have been introduced.

Hopefully, more study of primary sources will amend such shortcomings.


R – This symbol is used for incoming letters not reviewed.


Editor’s opinions:


The few opinions on events or interpretation of an entry follow all citation designators as well
as extra information following “Note”; These remarks are offered as simply one man’s view,
and every effort has been made to keep them short and pithy, without obstacle to the meaning
of the listing. Of course, I hold title to many more opinions than the few exposed here.
Admittedly, a work of this scope carries errors and inconsistencies. That’s what future
appendixes, supplements and editions are for. Ultimately, online status for the whole work may
happen.


Misc: Bold Entries, Italics, Strike-outs, Quotations, use of sic:


All references to dates are bold, save for those within quotes. Also bold are first mentions of
persons and places (including lecture halls, etc.) within each date entry. Subjects and titles are
not in bold. Indented are letter, newspaper excerpts (boxed) and longer commentaries from
biographers and scholars. This aids ease of reading, finding one’s place and appearance. Italics
are used when the primary source uses underlines, except for newspaper reports using
underlines. They are also used for all inscriptions noted, especially those in books given as
gifts. When Sam Clemens uses strikeouts to convey his real or additional meaning, those are
usually retained — all other strikeouts, thought to be drafting strikeouts, are not included. Due
to all the variant spellings of the day, use of vernacular, and the many misspellings by some
writers, the use of sic has been limited to a few instances. Some surnames were spelled in more
than one way. Choices were made to stick with one variant, trying to follow the MTP’s
examples, or sometimes to put the variant in parentheses.


Corrected sources and method used; the “not in” listings:

Inevitably, sources contain errors. When an error is perceived it is sometimes, but not always,
reported. This is not to point any blame or to discredit any source or author, but merely to
report findings. Prejudice is given to contemporary works, with Internet sources taking a much
lower priority. Apologies to egos aside, the errors, omissions and oddities should be reported.

Also, some notable material is missing from standard works. Whenever possible these are
pointed out, as in “Not in Gribben,” or “Not in Scharnhorst,” to save the reader/researcher
effort in tracing back material. When errors were found in the MTP catalogue, such as letters to
Livy or Whitmore that were catalogued as to SLC, these are left out or noted. The MTP
catalogue misleads when it lists a letter from a person for a company — one particular listing
found was a letter from a man FOR the U.S. Senate. Upon review it was discovered the man
was a clerk in Washington using Senate letterhead to write asking for Sam’s autograph —
hardly a letter FOR the Senate. In every such case the language in this work has been changed
to, for example, “John Doe wrote on US Senate letterhead asking for Sam’s autograph for his
daughter,” etc. Also, many listings from the Charles Webster & Co., which are nothing more
than monthly financial reports of several types, often without corresponding letters, have been
catalogued by the MTP under the month of the report. These have been placed in the following
month here, as they could not have been sent until the month closed — thus, March 1889’s
monthly report is placed as being sent in April, 1889. In all such cases a strict chronology is
attempted. Is this an error on the MTP’s part? No, merely a different way to categorize these
entries. Likewise, when a pack of Daily Reports was sent, the MTP dates these as a range of
dates and places them at the first date. We place them at the last date and note the range within
that entry, since they could not have been mailed earlier. Several such changes have been made.
These do not reflect on the scholarship of the MTP or of any other source.


ABBREVIATIONS


A.D. Autobiographical dictations, MTP.
AC The American Claimant
ALR American Literary Review

AMT 1: 2:
Autobiography of Mark Twain. Vol. 1 (2 & 3 forthcoming) Harriet Elinor Smith
and Benjamin Griffin and Victor Fischer, eds. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2010. It
should be noted that the MTP uses Auto1, Auto2, etc. for this, to differentiate from Neider’s
edition. The volume numbers, however, should be sufficient to differentiate between this work
and Neider’s.
BAMT
The Bible According to Mark Twain. Baetzhold, Howard G. and McCullough,
Joseph B., eds. New York: Touchstone, 1995.
CS Christian Science
CY Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court
ET&S 1: 2: Early Tales & Sketches. Vol. 1, 1851-1864. Vol. 2, 1864-1865. Edited by
Edgar M. Branch and Robert H. Hirst. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1979-81.
FE Following the Equator
GA The Gilded Age
IA Innocents Abroad
IVL Isabel VanKleek Lyon
JA Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc
L-A MS Lyon-Ashcroft Manuscript MTP
LAL Library of American Literature
LLMT
Bros 1949 The Love Letters of Mark Twain. Edited by Dixon Wecter. New York: Harper &
LM Life on the Mississippi
LWMT
A Lifetime With Mark Twain. Edited by Mary Lawton. New York: Harcourt,
Brace & Co., 1925.

MMT
1910.
Volume 4 – Mark Twain Day By Day
My Mark Twain, by William Dean Howells. New York: Harper & Brothers,
MTA
Mark Twain’s Autobiography. Edited by Albert Paine. 2 vols. New York: Harper
& Brothers, 1924.
MTAq
Prss, 1991.
Mark Twain’s Aquarium. Edited by John Cooley. Athens: University of Georgia
MTB
Mark Twain A Biography, by Albert Paine, 4 vols. New York: Harper &
Brothers, 1912.
MTE
Mark Twain in Eruption, Edited by Bernard DeVoto. New York: Harper &
Brothers, 1922.
MTFM
Mark Twain’s Fables of Man. Edited by John S Tuckey. Berkeley: University of
California Press, 1972.
MTFWE
Mark Twain’s Four Weeks in England 1907. Edited by Edward Connery
Lathem. Hartford: The Mark Twain House & Museum, 2006.
MTHHR
Mark Twain’s Correspondence with Henry Huttleston Rogers 1893-1909. Edited
by Lewis Leary. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1969.
MTHL 1: 2:
Mark Twain-Howells Letters: The Correspondence of Samuel L. Clemens and
William Dean Howells. Edited by Henry Nash Smith and William M. Gibson. 2 vols.
Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1960.
MTJ
Mark Twain Journal. Edited until 2012 by Thomas A. Tenney.
MTL 1: – 6:
Mark Twain’s Letters. Volumes 1-6. 1853-1875. Edited by Edgar M. Branch, et
al. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1988-2002.
MTLE 1: – 5: Mark Twain’s Letters, Electronic Volumes 1-5. 1876-1880. Mark Twain Project.
MTLP 1: – 2: Mark Twain’s Letters. 2 vols. Edited by Albert Bigelow Paine. New York:
Harper & Bros, 1917.

MTLTP
Mark Twain’s Letters to His Publishers, 1867-1894. Edited by Hamlin Hill.
Berkeley: University of California Press, 1967.
MTMF
Mark Twain to Mrs. Fairbanks. Edited by Dixon Wecter. San Marino, Calif.:
Huntington Library, 1949.
MTOW
2010. Mark Twain’s Other Woman, by Laura Skandera Trombley. New York: Knopf,
MTP Mark Twain Papers, Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley.
MTPO Mark Twain Project Online (as of late 2007)
MT & GWC Mark Twain and George W. Cable, by Alan Turner.
MTNJ 1: – 3: Mark Twain’s Notebooks & Journals. Volumes 1 – 3. 1855-1891. Edited by
Frederick Anderson, et al. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1979.
MTS&B
Mark Twain’s Satires & Burlesques. Franklin R. Rogers, ed. Berkeley:
University of California Press, 1967.
NB TS Sam’s unpublished notebooks, given with a TS (transcription page #)
PW Pudd’nhead Wilson
P&P The Prince and the Pauper
S&MT Susy and Mark Twain, by Edith Colgate Salsbury, Harper & Row, 1965.
TS Transcription
TS The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
TSA Tom Sawyer Abroad
TSD Tom Sawyer, Detective
ViU Barrett Collection, University of Virginia

 

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