Day By Day Dates

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)

August 28, 1896

August 28 Friday – In Guildford, England Sam finished his Aug. 26 letter to Livy:

Noon, Friday. There is yet time to add a line before posting this for tomorrow’s steamer.

August 29, 1896

August 29 Saturday – In Guildford, England Sam began a letter to Livy that he finished Aug. 30.

I wonder if she left any little message for me, any little mention, showing that she thought of me. I was not deserving of it, I had not earned it, but if there was any such word left behind for me, I hope it was saved up in its exact terms & that I shall get it.

August 30, 1896

August 30 Sunday – In Guildford, England Sam finished his Aug. 29 letter to Livy.

Sunday, mid-afternoon, 30th. Not a line yet, not a single line. It seems as if I cannot bear it.

September 1896

September – The second and last installment of the 23,400 word Tom Sawyer, Detective ran the Sept. issue of Harper’s Magazine. 21 illustrations were included by A.B. Frost. It would be included by Harper’s in book form, together with the 34,000 word Tom Sawyer Abroad in November, 1896. The latter had first appeared in book form in 1894 by Webster & Co., after being serialized in St. Nicholas Magazine.

September 2, 1896

September 2 WednesdayLivy, Clara Clemens, and Katy Leary sailed for Southampton, England on the liner St. Louis [N.Y. Times Aug. 11, 1896 p.11, “Marine Intelligence”; Sept. 9 to Rogers; MFMT 177].

September 7, 1896

September 7 Monday – In Guildford, England Sam wrote to J. Henry Harper on the back of his (a copy?) Aug. 7 to Harper, about the “Californian’s Tale” — whether or not it was considered published.

 

September 9, 1896

September 9 Wednesday – Livy, daughter Clara, and Katy Leary arrived in Southampton. It is assumed they went directly to Guildford to be reunited with Sam [Sept. 10 to Rogers].

September 13, 1896

September 13 Sunday – In London, Sam sent a letter of thanks to Charles J. Langdon. (This is the first of several letters with a return address of c/o Chatto & Windus, 111 St. Martin’s Lane, London.)

September 14, 1896

September 14 Monday – In London Sam wrote two letters to Franklin G. Whitmore about the Hartford house rental and associated matters. In the first letter he also mentioned “a notice of Susy by George Warner and a little poem by Annie Trumbull.” (Editorial emphasis.) After writing the first letter, a letter and statement of affairs came from Whitmore.

September 17, 1896

September 17 Thursday – London. In his Sept. 14to Whitmore, Sam disclosed he’d just written the Authors Club to withdraw his membership. A note dated Sept. 17 to the club secretary to withdraw “for economical reasons” is in the MTP, so it may be that this was put off a few days [MTP].

September 28, 1896

September 28 Monday – In London, Sam continued to respond to letters of condolence, including this answer to Henry C. Robinson, Hartford attorney and family friend.

It is as you say, dear old friend, “the pathos of it” — yes, it was a piteous thing — as piteous a tragedy as any the year can furnish. …All the circumstances of this death were pathetic — my brain is worn to rags rehearsing them. Yes, & cursing them — cursing the conception & invention of them. …

October 1896

October – Sometime during the month Sam wrote to Poultney Bigelow, confiding the secret address of 23 Tedworth Square for him to visit. Sam headed the note, “Private,” and explained:

October 1, 1896

October 1 Thursday ca. – On or about this day a portion of a letter Sam sent to Orion appeared in the Keokuk Gate City; it survives in scrapbook 20 at the MTP: