Day By Day Dates

July 12 Sunday – In Aix-les-Bains Sam wrote to Chatto & Windus having just received their check and note. He returned the check and asked them to place it in credit with Brown Shipley & Co., London, to draw upon as he wished or to gain a letter of credit from them. He referred to the “new continental company which has secured Kipling, Howells & others,” and said that he’d advised the company the matter was in Chatto’s hands, whose “powers were unhampered.” Chatto had also sent books (some requested).

July 14 Tuesday – John Habberton for N.Y. Herald sent Sam a clipping from the July 11, 1891 Publishers’ Weekly p.43 that read: “MARK TWAIN, it is reported, intends starting a humourous journal in London.” Was it true? Either way, he’d “gladly print” Sam’s response in the Herald [MTP].

July 18 Saturday – In Aix-les-Bains Sam wrote to Andrew Chatto, responding to a letter (not extant). No, Sam said, he wanted a letter of credit from Brown Shipley & Co. for the amount of Chatto’s check, as there was “nothing so convenient & so handy” as one of their “ordinary circular letters of credit.”

July 19 Sunday – In Aix-les-Bains, all was not soaking in the baths and suffering from rheumatism. Paine writes of Sam’s time here and his excursions:

“I’ve got back the use of my arm the last few days, and I am going away now,” he says, and concludes by describing the beautiful drives and scenery about Aix — the pleasures to be found paddling on little Lake Bourget and the happy excursions to Annecy.

July 21 Tuesday – In Aix-les-Bains Sam wrote to Richard Watson Gilder. Though describing his arm as “still badly crippled with rheumatism” he had to write to introduce,

…this bright & charming young Finnish baroness, & suggest that you drop her a line in case you would like some Finland life sympathetically done, in the magazine. She visited the Warners in Hartford two or three years ago & left a most pleasant impression with us all [MTP]

July 22 Wednesday – Edward Dexter wrote from San Diego, Calif. eager to produce a cheap edition of CY [MTP].

July 24 Friday – U.S. Census per Robert P. Porter sent Sam a printed Census questionnaire [MTP].

July 25 Saturday – In Aix-les-Bains, France Sam wrote to Andrew Chatto, thanking him for his list of novels but Sam knew not to read novels when preparing to write fiction. He asked for a list of Chatto’s didactic books. Sam also thanked him for the letter of credit which had arrived, and for the trouble Chatto took to secure it. The McClure Syndicate, purchasers of the serial rights for The American Claimant, had received an offer from a German company for a translated edition there.

July 26 Sunday – Jean Clemens’ eleventh birthday.

In the last letter extant from Aix-les-Bains, France, Sam wrote to Frederick J. Hall requesting duplicates of statements sent to him as well as to Whitmore. Things were looking up a bit, as Sam remarked on the last statement he received:

July 27 Monday † – On this day or the day after, the family left for Bayreuth, Germany and the Wagner festival, which got underway on July 19. Rodney calls this “a long, three-day journey to Bayreuth in eastern Germany” [135]. Paine writes:

July 28 Tuesday – Frank Evans wrote from Laurens, S.C. to Sam, having saved “ridiculous answers” that “Negroes frequently give…to questions asked” Frank thought Sam might want these to do an article similar to “English As She Is Taught” [MTP].

‡ See Addenda for letter to McClure.

July 29 Wednesday – The Clemens party was traveling to Bayreuth, Germany [Rodney 135].

July 30 Thursday – The Clemens party was traveling to Bayreuth, Germany [Rodney 135].

Orion Clemens wrote to Sam having received his monthly check. Orion wrote a longish letter about himself and Mollie and things with Sam and the family. This letter also includes drawings of church windows in Keokuk and a discussion of local tobacco, etc. [MTP].

July 31 Friday – The date Sam gave Frederick J. Hall (July 10) when he’d be at Bayreuth for the Wagner festival. Sam actually arrived the next day, Aug. 1 [“At the Shrine of St. Wagner”]. The Clemens party was in transit this day.

August – Harper’s Monthly ran Sam’s sketch, “Luck” [Wilson 189]. Sam wrote the story in 1886 [MTB 842] after hearing it from Joe Twichell. Sam thought the story was “too improbable for literature” and so had put it aside until forced by the financial swamp of the typesetter to comb his materials for saleable material. The sketch would be reprinted in Merry Tales (1892).

August 1 Saturday – The Clemens party arrived in Bayreuth, Germany (Bavaria) on what Sam wrote was “about mid-afternoon of a rainy Saturday” [“At the Shrine of St. Wagner”]. During their stay in Bayreuth, Sam wrote “At the Shrine of St. Wagner,” the second letter to the McClure Syndicate. You can find this letter in Neider’s Complete Essays of Mark Twain (2000).

August 2 Sunday – Sam wrote of attending “Parsifal,” an opera he noted that “Madame Wagner does not permit its representation anywhere but in Beyreuth.”

August 3 Monday – In Bayreuth, Germany Sam wrote on Aug. 4 of his experiences of this day:

August 4 Tuesday – In Bayreuth, no performances were given; it was a rehearsal day. Sam took the opportunity to add to his article, “At the Shrine of St. Wagner,” warning visitors for the next year of the dining situation there.

August 5 Wednesday – In Bayreuth, Sam wrote on Aug. 6 of this day’s performance of “Tristan and Isolde”:

August 6 Thursday – In Bayreuth, another performance of “Parsifal” was given. Sam elected not to go, but said the “others” of his party did. He wrote of the setup of the festival:

August 7 Friday – Sam wrote from Bayreuth, Germany to Frederick J. Hall concerning details of McClure’s publication of The American Claimant, which would begin in January. Sam wanted confirmation that the second installment payment would be made at that time, and that the serial would finish in March, 1892.

August 10 Monday – A man signing himself “An Old Frontiersman” wrote from Rosebud, S.D. having just read Sam’s sketch “Luck” in Harper’s. Few writers had given him such pleasure [MTP].

August 11 Tuesday – The Clemens party left Bayreuth for Marienbad, Bohemia (Germany). Sam wrote of his last attendances at the Wagner festival operas:

TUESDAY. — I have seen my last two operas; my season is ended, and we cross over into Bohemia this afternoon. I was supposing that my musical regeneration was accomplished and perfected, because I enjoyed both of these operas, singing and all, and, moreover, one of them was “Parsifal,” but the experts have disenchanted me. They say:

August 12 Wednesday – The last day of the Bayreuth, Germany Wagner festival. Sam was in Marienbad, Germany a few days later, writing from there on Aug. 15. For a humorous account of the trip from Aix-les-Bains to Bayreuth, read Sam’s third letter to McClure’s Syndicate, “Playing the Courier,” which first appeared in the Illustrated London News on Dec. 19 and 26, 1891.