March 6 Monday – Sam went to the American Publishing Co. to see Elisha Bliss and check on De Quille’s The Big Bonanza, and no doubt on The Adventures of Tom Sawyer as well. Bliss showed Sam a lot of the pictures that were going into De Quille’s book and told him that the compositors were ready to go to work. Sam may have learned at this point that the book could not be published by summer [MTLE 1: 28].
March 5 Sunday – In Cambridge, Mass., Howells wrote to Sam, declining Livy’s invitation for a visit [MTHL 1: 126].
March 4 Saturday – Mary Mapes Dodge wrote to Sam: “People who do promise are so very uncertain that I eagerly pin my faith upon a man who doesn’t promise. Don’t promise—but please do write me a midsummer story for the boys” [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env. “Mrs. M.E. Dodge, editor St Nicholas”
March 3 Friday – Francis Wayland wrote to Sam to pin down which evening he would “bask in your smile”—either March 22nd or 29th [MTP].
March – Harper’s Monthly printed “The First Century of the Republic,” by Edwin P. Whipple. This article described popular humorists like Artemus Ward, John Phoenix, and Mark Twain, who was said to be:
February 28 Monday – George Barclay wrote from Edinburgh to inform Sam of the “precarious” nature of Dr. John Brown’s health. It was doubtful the good doctor could ever resume practice [MTP].
February 26 Saturday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Moncure Conway, answering his Feb. 22 and confirming Conway’s visit for Mar. 9. Conway had finished a fall and winter lecture tour on “London,” [MTL 6: 600n1] and would leave for England on Mar. 11 to make a deal with a publisher for The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.
February 25 Friday – Sam’s uncle John Adams Quarles, once a prominent and well-to-do man of Monroe County, Missouri, died a poor man [The Twainian, March 1942 p5].
Mary Mapes Dodge wrote from NYC asking for a piece of writing [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env. “Mrs. M.M. Dodge Editor St Nicholas”
February 23 Wednesday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Frank Marx Etting (1833-1890), accepting his invitation of Feb. 19 to attend the Congress of Authors at Independence Hall, Phila. on July 2. Sam wrote he would bring “a brief biographical Sketch of Francis Lightfoot Lee of Virginia” [MTLE 1: 26].
February 22 Tuesday – Moncure Conway wrote from Cincinnati, Ohio: