May 17 Thursday – Life on the Mississippi was issued by the James R. Osgood & Co. (Two copies were deposited with the Copyright Office of the Library of Congress). Sales before issue barely reached 30,000, a number that enraged Sam [Powers, MT A Life 469; Hirst, “A Note on the Text” Oxford edition, 1996]. Note: under old subscription models, it was thought 40,000 sales before release was a good result.

Sam wrote from Hartford to Charles Webster again about Kate Lampton. Ella Lampton had written again for her daughter Kate, and Sam enclosed her letter. He also asked if Webster would confirm good seats for him and Osgood for the following week:

I found complimentary tickets here from the Collender Co., for the opening billiard night, when I got back from Canada, and for which I was very much obliged. At present, Osgood and I propose to go down Sunday night [May 20], and be present at the matches of the afternoons and evenings of Monday and Tuesday [May 21-2]. Therefore if you should happen in there, you might ask the Collender Company to bear us in mind and not let the good seats get away [MTBus 214].  

Sam wrote from Hartford to American Publishing Co. asking them to “Please send A Tramp Abroad to John Bellows, Gloucester, England” [MTP]. John Bellows (1831-1902), a printer by trade, was later called the “Father of Gloucester Archeology” being the first to identify the walls there as of Roman origin. He introduced the first steam-press in the area, invented a cylindrical calculator, and wrote the first French-English dictionary without first knowing French. (This is a trick you should not try at home.)

Sam also wrote one line to Miss M.J. Remann, probably an autograph-seeker. “Very heavy press of work is my excuse for this brutal brevity. Truly Yours / Mark Twain” [MTP].