Day By Day Dates

June 3 Saturday – Niagara Book, containing “Extracts from Adam’s Diary” was published by Underhill and Nichols. The book did not sell well, and Sam only received half of the thousand dollars agreed upon, due to Nichols pushing Underhill out of the company (See Oct. 20 to Livy). Sam eventually forgave Underhill the other half, since the book lost some six thousand dollars [BAMT 5]. Note: Underhill would publish some of Sam’s later works.

June 4 Sunday – In Florence, Livy was ailing again. Sam wrote to Dr. William Wilberforce Baldwin, asking him to “come out here tomorrow & let’s talk about Professor Oertel & Mrs. Clemens’ case” [MTP]. Note: The family put Munich and Berlin on their list of stops for medical consultations for Livy. Dr. Baldwin may have recommended doctors there.

June 5 Monday – Dr. William Baldwin was to come and examine Livy [June 4 to Baldwin].

June 8 Thursday – Clara Clemens’ nineteenth birthday.

At the Villa Viviani, Florence, Sam wrote to Joe Twichell. He did not mention Clara’s birthday.

The sea voyage set me up & I reached here May 27 in tolerable condition — nothing left but weakness, cough all gone. I was ill in bed eleven days in Chicago, a week in Elmira & 3 months in New York (seemingly) & accomplished nothing that I went home to do.

June 9 Friday – Frederick J. Hall wrote to Sam indicating that General Stewart L. Woodford (1835-1913), politician and former congressman, was interested in buying $40,000 worth of Sam’s Paige typesetter royalties [MTLTP 347n1]. Note: See June 16, for Woodford’s change of heart. In 1897 Woodford would be appointed minister to Spain less than a year before the Spanish-American war.

June 10 Saturday – At the Villa Viviani, Florence, Sam wrote a short note to Mr. White, a local English or American who had evidently invited Sam and Susy to an engagement for Sunday evening, June 11. Susy had a prior appointment, but Sam wrote he could “find my way alone — & shall” [MTP].

June 11 Sunday – In Florence, in the evening, Sam visited the Whites, somewhere in the area; Susy had some other engagement, not specified [June 10 to White].

June 12 Monday – At the Villa Viviani, Florence, Sam wrote to Chatto & Windus, asking them to send the next letter of credit to Drexel Harjes & Co. bankers in Paris.

We take wing tomorrow for Bavaria, but do not yet know whereabouts on the continent we shall spend the summer.

I wish to thank you most heartily for the sumptuous Joan of Arc you sent… [MTP].

June 13 Tuesday – At the Villa Viviani, Florence, Sam wrote to Franklin G. Whitmore. “We are this moment leaving for Germany.” Sam wanted the Nation and all other papers and magazines routed to Drexel Harjes & Co., Paris [MTP].

June 14 Wednesday – At the Villa Viviani, Florence, Sam and Livy wrote to Miss A. Hall, who had seen Susy off at the station the night before. Sam wrote:

June 15 Thursday – In Sam’s June 20 to Susan Crane Sam wrote they’d left the Villa on this day; but in his notebook he gave 6 p.m. Friday, June 17, even though Friday was June 16 [NB 33 TS 18].

June 16 Friday – Sam reported on June 20 to Susan Crane that Livy “felt so miserable last Friday morning” and wished she was at Quarry Farm.

Sam’s notebook:

Left the Villa Viviani at 6 p.m. Friday. June 17 [Friday was June 16]. Dined & stayed at Dr. Wilberforce Baldwin’s, 1 Via Palestro [NB 33 TS 18].

Frederick J. Hall responded to Sam’s June 2, wanting out of business, with a five-page typed letter.

June 17 Saturday – Sam’s notebook reveals the Clemenses travel:

Saturday, left at 2.30 p.m., went to Bologna in 3 hours. Stopped over Sunday in Hotel Brun, an old palace with beautiful ceilings & mosaic floors. Fearfully noisy all night. Leaning towers [NB 33 TS 18].

June 18 Sunday – The Clemens trio stayed in Bologna at the Hotel Brun, resting up for the next leg of their trip to Trient, Austria [NB 33 TS 18].

June 19 Monday– Sam’s notebook reveals the Clemenses next travel leg to Verona and Trient:

Monday, left at 10.30, got to Verona at 3.20. Visited tombs of the Scaligers; window in Monastery where Dante wrote part of the Divine Comedy; quaint & fine old staircase; passed house of the Capulets. At 4.40 very hot, no good hotel — went on to Trient, arriving at 8.05. Hotel Trient — excellent. Took an uninteresting drive [NB 33 TS 18]. Note: Dante is mentioned in the preface of PW.

June 20 Tuesday – In Trient, Austria Sam wrote to Susan Crane.

Dear aunt Sue, the flies quitted us at the Italian frontier — and unspeakable relief — but the fleas have taken their place, & business goes on at the old stand. They make life a sorry for Livy & Jean.

June 21 Wednesday – Sam’s notebook reveals the family’s trip from Trient to Innsbruck:.

Wednesday, left [Trient] at 7.20 — church-bells going like mad from 4.30 till 6.30 — came to Innsbruck by Brenner Pass in about 5½ hours, in an observation-car — first class tickets. All glass — that is, 2 sides & one end; 11 sail-cloth uncomfortable chairs — pile of camp-stools in a corner. Very dirty oil-cloth on floor.

June 22 Thursday – The Clemens family rested in Innsbruck, Austria. “Delightful Aufenthalt in a delightful hotel” [NB 33 TS 19]. Note: Aufenthalt (Resting Place), Rellstab’s title for the poem Schubert set in August 1828.

June 23 Friday – The Clemens family rested at the Hotel Tirol in Innsbruck, Austria. Frederick J. Hall wrote to Sam that “This has been an exceedingly busy and very hard week but the outlook is better.” In this letter and one on July 7, Hall, on the advice of Charles J. Langdon, shut down sales of LAL and laid off all but a skeleton staff. Hall wrote Langdon on July 11 that these moves had reduced office expenses $1,000 a week.

June 24 Saturday – Sam’s notebook reveals the trip from Innsbruck to Munich:

June 25 Sunday – The Clemens family traveled some 62 miles and arrived in Munich, Germany.

June 26 Monday – In Munich, Germany Sam wrote to Frederick J. Hall.

We have reached here at last, after a much-broken journey — this was rendered necessary by the state of Mrs. Clemens’s health. We came here to consult a specialist. We expect him to call to-day. He will probably send us out of Munich to some mountain town.

June 27 Tuesday – The Clemens family rested in Munich, Germany. On this day Sam made a notebook entry:

Article — “The Unfinished Novel.” If it were continued, how sad it would be. Thackeray finishing the Waverly [sic] novels was on track of a truth [Gribben 618; NB 33 TS 20].

June 28 Wednesday – At about 8 a.m Sam left Munich for Berlin to accompany daughter Clara back to Munich. Sam’s notebook reveals the trip:

June 28. Arrived at Berlin at 8.28 p.m about 12 ½ hr. out from Munich — still good daylight. Clara, Mrs. Willard & Secretary Jackson at station. Staid at Jackson’s [NB 33 TS 20].

July – Sam’s notebook mentioned Thomas Carlyle’s The French Revolution (1856) [Gribben 128; NB 33 TS 22]. Sam also noted “Poem to the Nightingale & Owl (cuc) or Abusive Sketch” [NB 33 TS 23]. Note: This may refer to the medieval (ca. 1200) poem The Owl and the Nightingale.

California Illustrated, p.170-8 ran “Reporting with Mark Twain” Quoted by Fatout [Tenney 21; The Twainian Dec. 1939; Fatout, MT in Va City p.31, 114, 117, 173-4]. See August entry.