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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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].