January 1 Sunday – In Hartford a first issue of the first edition of Mark Twain’s Library of Humor, Illustrated by Edward Windsor Kemble, was signed, “Mark Twain, Hartford, Jan. 1, 1888.” This edition contained the first appearance of “Warm Hair” by Sam, but his name was erased from the heading of the sketch in later editions, as if he was not the author. Inserted in this edition was a facsimile of the “Compiler’s Apology”:
Those selections in this book which are from my own works, were made by my two assistant-compilers, not by me. This is why there are not more. Mark Twain.
The work that took many years was an anthology of humorous short stories, legends, anecdotes and poems by the following writers: William L. Alden, Thomas Bailey Aldrich, James M. Bailey, Ambrose Bierce, Josh Billings, Hans Breitmann, Robert J. Burdette, William Allen Butler, George W. Cable, Samuel S. Cox, Frederick W. Cozzens, George William Curtis, Sam P. Davis, Mary Mapes Dodge, Q. K. Philander Doesticks, Eugene Field, Jason T. Fields, Lucretia P. Hale, George W. Harris, Joel Chandler Harris (Uncle Remus), John Hay, Bret Harte, Johnson J. Hooper, Marietta Holley (Josiah Allen’s Wife), Oliver Wendell Holmes, William Dean Howells, Washington Irving, Richard Malcolm Johnston, George T. Lanigan, Charles G. Leland, James Russell Lowell, Joseph C. Neal, Robert H. Newell, Bill Nye, John Phoenix, Mrs. Frances Lee Pratt, Henry W. Shaw, Edmund C. Stedman, Frederic W. Shelton, Seba Smith, Frank R. Stockton, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Mortimer N. Thompson, W. Tappan Thompson, James T. Trowbridge, Artemus Ward, Charles Dudley Warner, Katherine Kent Childs Walker, and twenty stories by Mark Twain. It was not a big seller.
Celestia Smith wrote from Houstonia, Mo. asking Sam for “a helping hand” [MTP].
J.G. Rathbun & Co., Hartford Pharmacist’s bill for January $59.63, paid Jan 4, 1888:
For goods: Oct 6 1887: Geysers .30; Oct 13: 200 cigars 8.00, geyser .05; Oct 15 Geyser .20 Oct 29 200 cigars 8.00 – total 16.25
Nov 4 Ground el? .20 Nov. 5 Ammonia .20 Medicine boat .35
Nov 10 Ammonia .35 Home Remedy 1.15 200 Cigars 8.00 – 9.50
Nov 16 Soda Mint Tablets .40; Nov 19 Castor Oil, Nov 23 Brandy 3.00
Nov 24 Recipe .20 Hops .30 Nov 26 toboggan Thermometer .50 total 1.00
Dec 5 Mustard leaves .30, Dec 8 alcohol tbt .75 Dec 12 [illegible] .60 –total 1.65
Dec 16 Chloride .05; Dec 17 200 cigars 8.00 Ponds ext 1.50 – total 9.55
Dec 19 Flax seed .30 Dec 23 Salts .10 Dec 27 200 cigars 8.00 –total 8.40
Dec 28 200 Cigars 8.00 Parejoric .10 Dec 29 Vaseline .25 Salpetre .08 total 8.43 [MTP].
Miss M.E. Riordon, Dress-Making Rooms, Hartford, bill for $22.59 for “pink dress and tan dress made” $22.59 [MTP].
Park & Tilford, Teas and Fancy Groceries, N.Y. billed $26.75: “Dec 13 87 Oolong tea, 1 doz pens, 3 pack vanilla & chocolate; [misc illegible] Dec. 16 ½ doz F. Asparagus 8.25”; Paid Jan 12, 1888 [MTP].