January 21 Tuesday – John E. Mouland wrote from Boston to reply to Clemens’ Dec. 3, 1875 invite.

January 20 Monday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Thomas B. Pugh of Phila., owner of the “Star Course of Lectures and Concerts,” touting the idea of establishing a lecture circuit entirely on the Eastern seaboard in big cities with only big-name speakers [MTL 5: 275].

January 19 Sunday – From Livy’s diary:

“Mr. Chamberlin let us have the low land for less than $9 a foot—but in measuring the land there proved to be more of the bank than Mr. C. thought, so that by taking a hundred and thirteen (I believe) of the table land seventy five did not bring us to the flat land, so Mr. C. sold us the rest of the bank for $50 a front foot [Salsbury 13]. Note: Franklin Chamberlin.

January 17 Friday – Sam wrote from Hartford to his old friend Will Bowen, commiserating about the loss of a child [MTL 5: 273]. Sam also wrote to James Redpath, declining to lecture in Philadelphia, but saying he might talk the “Sandwich Islands” lecture in New York and Brooklyn for the Mercantile Library [MTL 5: 274].

January 16 Thursday – Sam paid $10,000 for a 544’ x 320’ lot in Hartford deeded this day [MTL 5: 271, 277]. Andrews states it was “later enlarged by a second purchase…for $20,000” total [81].

For three days the area was covered with ice; Livy wrote about it in her Jan. 19 diary entry.

January 15 Wednesday – Whitelaw Reid responded that the insert was received 24 hours too late, even for the extra sheet, but that he’d have a new plate made for what he might print later [MTL 5: 272n1].

January 14 Tuesday – Sam wrote a revision insert about missionary work in his Sandwich Islands letters to Whitelaw Reid, which were to be reprinted in the Tribune the following day.

January 13 and 17 Friday – Sam wrote again from Hartford to Whitelaw Reid, acknowledging receipt of $100 for his two letters on the Sandwich Islands. Sam wrote about buying a lot in Hartford, but then crossed out the passage. On Jan. 17 Sam added:

January 12 Sunday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Ira F. Hart, secretary for the Elmira YMCA. Sam declined to lecture in Elmira or Towanda [MTL 5: 267]. He was determined to finish The Gilded Age before leaving for England in May. Sam also wrote to John M.

January 11 Saturday – A humidor with this date engraved was purported given to Sam at a banquet, most likely in New York. The humidor is said to have been presented to Mark Twain at a banquet on January 11, 1873. The presenter was his good friend Charles Tiffany. Charles Tiffany and his son Louis Comfort Tiffany supplied many of the decorations for the Hartford home.