Day by Day entries are from Mark Twain, Day By Day, four volumes of books compiled by David Fears and made available on-line by the Center for Mark Twain Studies.  The entries presented here are from conversions of the PDFs provided by the Center for Mark Twain Studies and are subject to the vagaries of that process.    The PDFs, themselves, have problems with formatting and some difficulties with indexing for searching.  These are the inevitable problems resulting from converting a printed book into PDFs.  Consequently, what is provided here are copies of copies.  

I have made attempts at providing a time-line for Twain's Geography and have been dissatisfied with the results.  Fears' work provides a comprehensive solution to that problem.  Each entry from the books is titled with the full date of the entry, solving a major problem I have with the On-line site - what year is the entry for.  The entries are certainly not perfect reproductions from Fears' books, however.  Converting PDFs to text frequently results in characters, and sometimes entire sections of text,  relocating.  In the later case I have tried to amend the problem where it occurs but more often than not the relocated characters are simply omitted.  Also, I cannot vouch for the paragraph structure.  Correcting these problems would require access to the printed copies of Fears' books.  Alas, but this is beyond my reach.

This page allows the reader to search for entries based on a range of dates.  The entries are also accessible from each of the primary sections (Epochs, Episodes and Chapters) of Twain's Geography.  

Entry Date (field_entry_date)

December 13, 1908 Sunday

Submitted by scott on

December 13 Sunday – Isabel Lyon’s journal:  “Mr. Starr & Mr. Watson came for luncheon today, & Mrs. Starr made some colored photographs of the King & Margaret” [MTP: IVL TS 83]. Note: see Starr’s account of this trip Nov. 29 entry.

December 15, 1908 Tuesday 

Submitted by scott on

December 15 Tuesday – Clara Apfel, who was about to prepare a paper for the Chicago Women’s Club wrote to ask “something new”—“Possibly what you personally think of ‘Women’s’ clubs” or some little incident” in his life [MTP]. Note: “Ans Dec 23 MLH”

December 22, 1908 Tuesday

Submitted by scott on

December 22 Tuesday – Mansfield Hobbs, an attorney friend of Ralph W. Ashcroft filed incorporation papers for the Mark Twain Company, with $5,000 in capital stock. Clemens, Ashcroft, and Isabel Lyon were the original officers. Sam signed a document assigning and transferring all of his literary rights to the new corporation.

Day By Day Volume IV - 1909

Submitted by scott on

“Is Shakespeare Dead?”– Stormfield $1 Tax – Clara vs. Isabel
Lyon Breaks Down – Clara’s Affair – Carnegie Dinner – Ashcroft Weds Lyon
“Lobster Pot” Boils – H.H.’s Railway – Who Fired Horace? – Lyon Sacked
St. Timothy’s – Ashcroft-Lyon MS – H.H. Rogers Dies – Lost Footnote
Twain Sues Mrs. Ashcroft – “Tobacco” Heart – Amicable Settlement
 Ossip Weds Clara – Jean Comes Home – Bermuda with Paine
“Jean is a surprise & a wonder” – Jean dies: “I always envy the dead”

January 1, 1909 Friday

Submitted by scott on

January 1 Friday – In Redding, Conn., Isabel V. Lyon replied for Sam to the Dec. 28, 1908 from Clara Frazer in Withers Mill, Mo.

Dear Miss Frazer: / Mr. Clemens asks me to write for him & say certainly you may have that photograph copyrighted, & then used on post cards.

It is such a pretty little photograph that when the cards are printed, Mr Clemens hopes to have some of them.

January 2, 1909 Saturday

Submitted by scott on

January 2 Saturday – In Redding, Conn. Sam wrote a postcard to daughter Jean. “Happy New Year, Jean dear! And I hope you will have many more. / Affectionately” … [MTP].

Sam also wrote a postcard with a photograph of Stormfield to Dorothy Quick. Happy New Year! Jan. 2’09

It is a very nice poem, Dorothy dear; that is my opinion, & Miss Lyon’s, too.