December 14 Thursday – Sam acted as auctioneer at the Union’s Fair in Hartford.  

“The Sale of the Jabberwocks”

December 13 Wednesday – Sam dictated a letter in Hartford through Fanny Hesse to Moncure Conway. Sam had discovered that English copyright in Canada needed to be recorded in Canada within 60 days after publication in England. So, his English copyright was worthless in Canada.

December 12 Tuesday – William Borden, president of the New England Society in the City of New York, wrote to Sam, confirming his agreement to speak at their annual dinner on Dec. 22, and waiving their normal ten-minute rule: “…for I am quite sure that we cant get too much of the author of Innocents Abroad” [MTPO Notes with Dec. 20 to Perkins].

December 11 Monday – Charles Perkins, Sam’s attorney, had advised that John T. Raymond was still waiting for a contract for the next season. Sam asked if Perkins would draw it and let him see it first; also that he had another contract to be drawn and a deed for Perkins to squint at [MTLE 1: 153].

December 9 Saturday – Moncure Conway wrote to Sam offering followup in the Belford piracy matter for The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. Belford was doubtful Sam’s copyright was valid in Canada, but Chatto would continue the fight. Legal remedies open to Sam and Chatto would only led to a Pyrrhic victory, since penalties for violation of the 1875 Canadian copyright act were small, and the damage done to U.S.

December 8 Friday – The release date for The Adventures of Tom Sawyer [Camfield, bibliog.]. Hirst gives this as the date “the earliest copies of the first edition came from the bindery” [“A Note on the Text” Oxford edition, 1996]. Only 23,638 copies were sold the first year, and less than 29,000 by the end of 1879, providing only half the income of The Gilded Age [Emerson 95].

December 6 Wednesday – Christian Bernard Tauchnitz wrote from Leipzig, Germany to Sam.

My dear Sir, / In consequence of your kind letter of Sept 14 I have added your “Tom Sawyer” to my series. It filled one of my little volumes. I have printed it from the London edition, in adding the dedication you wished.

December 5 Tuesday – Sam was back in Hartford. He dictated a letter through Fanny C.

December 4 Monday – In Cambridge, Mass., Howells wrote to Sam, enclosing a letter from Belford Brothers to Howells Nov. 29. The Belfords wanted the right to publish Sam’s future contributions to the Atlantic. “We would be willing to pay liberally for the right to publish them in the magazine, although the law allows us to pirate them.” “What answer?” Howells asked [MTHL 1: 166]. (See Dec. 5 for Sam’s answer.)