February 22 Wednesday – Sam wrote from Buffalo to Orion. “Livy is very, very slowly & slightly improving, but it is not possible to say whether she is out of danger…” [MTL 4: 334].
February 21 Tuesday – Petroleum V. Nasby, “enormously fat & handsome,” stopped by.
“We had a pleasant talk but I couldn’t offer him the hospitalities because my wife is very seriously ill & the house is full of nurses & doctors” [MTL 4: 335-6 in letter to Redpath the next day].
February 17 Friday – Sam wrote a short letter to his mother and family about Livy’s improvement, though she:
“…still is very low & very weak. She is in her right mind this morning, & has made hardly a single flighty remark” [MTL 4: 352].
Sam also responded to an autograph seeker, Fannie Dennis, who wished both an autograph and sentiment:
February 16 Thursday – From Buffalo, Sam sent a request to Elisha Bliss: Please mail or send in your own way, a cloth copy of Innocents Abroad to SIDNEY MOFFETT New Market Shenandoah Co.,Va; & charge to my ac / [MTP, drop-in letters].
February 15 Wednesday – Sam wrote from Buffalo to Elisha Bliss, acknowledging a quarterly royalty check for $1,452.62 for sales of 8,024 copies of Innocents. Sam wrote that Riley had sailed from London on Feb. 1 on a 30-day voyage. On the subject of Livy, Sam answered Orion’s concern:
February 14 Tuesday – Sam signed both names on a short note to an unidentified man who evidently had asked for a valentine:
Dear Sir: / I am only too proud of the chance to help, with this the only Valentine I venture to write this day—for although I am twain in my own person I am only half a person in my matrimonial firm, & sometimes my wife shows that she is so much better & nobler than I am, that I seriously question if I am really any more than about a quarter! [MTP, drop-in letters].
February 13 Monday – To an unidentified request to lecture, Sam added a P.S. to a preprinted form:
“Am sorry to say that I am clear out of the lecture field, & neither riches nor glory can tempt me!” [MTL 4: 330].
Frank Bliss wrote an accounting of sales of IA during the period ending Jan. 31, including 6,395 in cloth, 1,353 in gift sets, 271 in half Morocco, enclosing check for $1,452.62 [MTP].
February 11 Saturday – Isaac E. Sheldon wrote to Sam: “Your telegram just rec’d. / I write to you this morning. /A note is inserted in the Nebulae & also in Table of Contents giving the reason why your Memoranda is not in this time” [MTP]. Note: Clemens may have sent another telegram on Feb. 10 or 11.
February 10 Friday – Francis P. Church wrote to Sam: “I have your last telegram, but I have already written that I succeeded in stopping Memoranda. / It will delay the Galaxy several days, but I keenly appreciate your feelings & honor you for it. I hope I should feel so myself under similar circumstances” [MTPO].
Isaac E. Sheldon wrote concerning Sam’s wish to delay the publication of Burlesque Autobiography:
February 9 Thursday – Sam wrote from Buffalo to Louis Prang and Co. acknowledging receipt of a chromolithograph. Sam added:
“This is all in haste. I am simply out of the sick room for a moment’s rest & respite. My wife is seriously & I am afraid even dangerously ill” [MTL 4: 329].
Thomas Bailey Aldrich wrote: