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)

May 29, 1900 Tuesday

May 29 TuesdaySam’s notebook: “Countess Hoyos? / (Dr. Hillyer [sic], open—30 Wimpole st W.[ )] / Andrew Carnegie Skibo Castle Sutherlandshire N.B.” [NB 43 TS 13]. Note: Dr. Alfred Peter Hilliard.

Rogers wrote to Sam. Only the envelope survives, upon which Sam wrote “Contract for Tom Sawyer” [MTP]. Note: TS the play. See Mar.25 to Rogers; also May 28.

May 30, 1900 Wednesday

May 30 WednesdaySam’s notebook: “Goerz ? YES 7.30 / Never tell a lie, even when it is the truth / He died in 1847—I was at the funeral. / Never tell a lie, even when it is the truth” [NB 43 TS 13]. Note: Sam inserted later in ink after Goerz: “Died. July 28, 1900”.

Chatto & Windus published 6,000 copies of the 6s.0d. English edition of The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg [Welland 238].

Fatout lists a JA reading for Mark Twain for Canon Wilberforce

May 31, 1900 Thursday

May 31 ThursdaySam’s notebook: “Gilders here—dinner” [NB 43 TS 13]. Note: the NB also lists “P. of Wales Cromwell play” and the play Rip Van Winkle by Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree (1853-1917) on this the opening day for the performance. Gribben speculates Sam possibly saw the play this day [711]. Note: see July 1, 1897 entry for bio info. on Tree.

June 1900

JuneHarper & Brothers published the first edition of The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg and Other Stories and Essays . Two copies were deposited with the Copyright Office on June 11 [Hirst, “A Note on the Text” Afterword materials p.23, Oxford ed. 1996].

June 1, 1900 Friday

June 1 FridaySam’s notebook: “LUNCH 1 pm. / Duke of York’s—3 p.m. / Doubleday—lunch Be at Savoy Grill Room, Strand entrance / 1 p.m./ Theatre (Mrs. C.) / Andrew Lang? / (A. Abbey, 8 pm” [NB 43 TS 13-14]. Note: Duke of York at this time was Prince George (1865-1936) who became King George V in 1910.

June 2, 1900 Saturday

June 2 SaturdaySam’s notebook: “Prof. J. Mark Baldwin of Princeton coming with J.L. Adams 11 a.m. Writes books on psychology. Oxford, now, on this industry. / Burford Bridge Hotel Dorking. / Andrew Lang? See July 1, for his address” [NB 43 TS 14].

June 3, 1900 Sunday

June 3 SundayWhitsuntide (Pentecost) in London. Sam’s notebook:1 Hamilton Place, Piccaly / Boating on the Thames. Herring. / Train 11. Paddington. / to Taplow—11 am arriving at 11.38. Fly waiting—the man will have white ribbon on his whip. / Dinner / Burford Bridge Hotel Dorking” [NB 43 TS 14].

Adele Chapin (Mrs. Robert Chapin) recalls Mark Twain coming by two days after their dinner where he met the artist James Abbott McNeil Whistler:

June 4, 1900 Monday

June 4 MondaySam’s notebook: “Chapin 8. If coming send no telegram. / Send congratulations to Miss Mai Rogers 26 E 57th—cable about noon. / CHAPIN—Dinner 8 pm” [NB 43 TS 14]. Note: Robert and Adele Chapin; Robert was US Consul in Johannesburg during Sam’s 1896 tour there.

In London, England Sam wrote a postcard to Franklin G. Whitmore.

June 5, 1900 Tuesday

June 5 TuesdaySam’s notebook: “Exhibition (medical) Queen’s Hall, top of Regent St—3 p.m./ Jim Clemens—dinner 7.30. 22 Queensberry Place, Cromwell Road / Jap show. Nottinghill Gate Coronet Theatre 2.30 p.m.” [NB 43 TS 15].

At 30 Wellington Court in London, Sam replied to an invitation by James Mark Baldwin to dine at one of the Oxford colleges.

Dear Professor Baldwin:—

I shall like it. It is so long since I was last in Oxford that all its features are grown dim to me; even Guy Faux’s lantern.

June 7, 1900 Thursday

June 7 ThursdaySam’s notebook:Murray, 11.40 to Victoria, Brighton. / Went to Woldingham, Surrey. Saw Robert Bar [sic Barr] & family” [NB 43 TS 15].

At 9 p.m., 30 Wellington Court in London, Sam wrote again to James Mark Baldwin, after sending a telegram.

June 9, 1900 Saturday

June 9 SaturdaySam’s notebook: “Call at 20 at 5.30. GOUT FOOD. / Savage Club 6 p.m. with MacAlister. / Afterward, the dinner to Irving at the Savoy—8.30 or 9 will do, I guess” [NB 43 TS 15]. Note: “Call at 20” likely refers to an address.

Sam attended a welcome home dinner for Sir Henry Irving after his American tour at the Savoy Hotel in London. From the June 10 N.Y. Times, p.4

WELCOME HOME TO IRVING.

Ambassador Choate in a Witty Vein—

June 10, 1900 Sunday

June 10 SundaySam’s notebook: “Oxford, 9 or 11.45 see next page” [NB 43 TS 15]. Note: next page, lined out: “Oxford: 9 or 11.45 Paddington. Prof. J. Mark Baldwin. Drive straight to 6 Bardwell Rd. Dinner & all night” [NB 43 TS 16].

Fatout gives this date for Sam’s speech (not recorded) at Magdalen College, Oxford. Sam had been unable to attend an earlier planned luncheon (June 7) with James Mark Baldwin, who wrote in his memoirs:

June 11, 1900 Monday

June 11 MondaySam’s notebook: “Andrew Lang, 1 Marloes Road, Kensington / Admiral Bridge 22 Wilton st Kensington / Plasmon 12? / Mailed letters to Wm. M. Clemens, P.O. Box 1716 New York & the Bowen-Merril Co., Indianapolis warning them not to issue those books” [NB 43 TS 15-16]. Note: see June 13 to H.H. Rogers on Will M. Clemens matter; the letter to Will’s publisher IS not extant.

June 12, 1900 Tuesday

June 12 TuesdaySam’s notebook: “MacMillan, dinner—8.15 52 Cadogan Place. / Hon. Mem. for 1 month from date. Beefsteak Club, 9 Green st., Leicester W.C. Maj. Stuart Wortley” [NB 43 TS 16]. Note: Beefsteak Club, founded in 1876, was the descendant of several other clubs from the 1700s. It was an after-theatre club bohemian in nature with about 200 members, including Henry Irving, John Lawrence Toole, Henry Labouchere, and others.

June 13, 1900 Wednesday

June 13 WednesdaySam’s notebook: “Clemens, 7.30. Address, June 5” [NB 43 TS 16].Note: James Ross Clemens; see June 5.

At 30 Wellington Court in London, Sam wrote to Katharine Boland Clemens (Mrs. James Ross Clemens) that Livy was “shut up in her room with a deep cold on her chest” and would be unable to visit, but he would “bring her regrets in place of bringing HER this evening” [MTP].

June 14, 1900 Thursday

June 14 ThursdaySam’s notebook: “Several boxes of chocolate-cakes. / GOUT. JAP PLAY. / Plasmon 12?”

[NB 43 TS 16]. Note: it seems the Plasmon Co. held regular Thursday meetings.

At 30 Wellington Court in London, Sam wrote to The Royal Society for the Improvement of Natural Knowledge, a scientific group established in 1662.

“Mr. & Mrs. S.L. Clemens accept with pleasure the kind invitation of the President of the Royal Society for Wednesday, June 20th at 9 p.m.” [MTP].

June 16, 1900 Saturday

June 16 SaturdaySam’s notebook: “Ask Mac[Alister] about R.S.V.P. Royal Society / & GOUT / ANSWER LANG. / Irving’s Opening. ” [NB 43 TS 16]. Note: No recent incoming is extant from Andrew Lang. Sam may have been referring to the upcoming July 17 opening of The Merchant of Venice at the Lyceum Theatre, which ran to July 28; Irving played Shylock; Ellen Terry played Portia.

June 17, 1900 Sunday

June 17 SundaySam’s notebook: “The Earl of Jersey. Tea; also dinner / Osterley. Park Station. Leave Vic., — 4.11 (4.11) Earls Ct 4.26 (change?) (at Mill Hill Park?) / Return. Lv. Osterly / Lv. Osterley 10.47 / (Change at Mill Hill Park [)]” [NB 43 TS 16-17]. Note: Victor Albert George Child Villiers, 7th Earl of Jersey (1845–1915), banker, Conservative politician, and Governor of New South Wales (1891-1893).

June 19, 1900 Tuesday

June 19 TuesdaySam’s notebook: “£5 Enid / Cox & Co—tailor. Order. BLACK PANTS / Will langs come, 5? LANG / NOON—Hulse. / 18 Stanhope Gardens / Mrs. Halsey, 8. Ask Mr. Chapin for the address./ Hannover 1 or 2” [NB 43 TS 17]. Note: Enid Stoker. Mrs. Halsey not further identified. Robert Chapin. Square after “Hannover” drawn in = Hannover Square.

June 20, 1900 Wednesday

June 20 WednesdaySam’s notebook:Joseph Pulitzer, 1.30—8 Chesterfield Gardens Curzon st. / Royal Society, 9. (pm?) Burlington House” [NB 43 TS 17].

Sam and Livy had been invited by the Royal Society to a gathering at 9 p.m. on this evening. He accepted on June 14.

June 21, 1900 Thursday

June 21 ThursdaySam’s notebook: “Seton Thompson. / MacArthur—1.15. Berkeley Restaurant. / CALL at 22 Wilton st (Bridge) about 5. / Mrs. Clemens, Mrs. Bigelow / Plasmon 12? / Lady Trelawney 13 Lancaster Gate W.—10 p.m. / 5 lb. PLASMON” [NB 43 TS 17].