February 23 Thursday – Some historians see the bankruptcy on Feb. 23, 1893 of the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad as the beginning of the Panic of 1893. Others point to a severe contraction on the N.Y. Stock Exchange which began on May 4. During the panic over 15,000 American businesses went under, some 500 banks failed, and by winter some eighteen percent of the work force was out of work.
February 22 Wednesday – Edgar W. (Bill) Nye wrote on Occidental Hotel, S.F. stationery to Sam, “very sorry that I missed you yesterday.” Nye compared his trip to that of the Donner Party; thanked Clemens for his kindness and the S.F. press for their courtesy “both 3 years ago and on this visit. What I have done to deserve it — I am quite unable to understand” [MTP].
February 21 Tuesday – Frank Bliss of American Publishing Co. wrote to Sam proposing a cheaper edition of his Sketches New and Old, paying him a ten per cent royalty on it. [MTP; Mar.8 to Bliss].
February, mid and last week – Susy Clemens finished a letter during “the last days of February” to Louise Brownell. It was a long letter, probably written over a two week period from mid-month. In part:
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.