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)

October 1, 1867 Tuesday

October 1 Tuesday – QC departed Jaffa at 7:30 AM Sam wrote at sea to his nephew Sammy Moffett, enclosing a pressed rose in a New Testament [MTL 2: 95-7]. From Sam’s notebook: “Oct 1.—Sailed for Egypt” [MTNJ 1: 443].

Sam’s “Holy Land Excursion. Letter from Mark Twain Number Eleven” dated Aug. “Naples” ran in the Alta California [McKeithan 83-9].

October 3, 1867 Thursday

October 3 Thursday  From Sam’s notebook:

“Café d’ Europe, Hotel d’Europe, Catacombs—pass along another King, Pompey’s pillar, Cleaopatra’s Needles, Great Cemetary, Mahmoudeea Canal, Nile boats, Fine streets & dwellings, Fine shade-tree avenues, Luxurious bowers, Great fountain in main street” [MTNJ 1: 443-4].

October 13, 1867 Sunday

October 13 Sunday – QC arrived at Cagliariisland of Sardinia at 9 PM, and left at midnight without disembarking passengers. Sam began a letter to his mother and family, writing on Oct. 13, 15, and 17 brief notes about his whereabouts, travel plans, the restrictions of quarantine and arrival back in New York [MTL 2: 97-8].

October 17, 1867 Thursday

October 17 Thursday – QC arrived at Malaga at 1 PM and left at 4 PM without disembarking passengers. It arrived at Gibraltar at 11PM.

“We were all lazy and satisfied, now, as the meager entries in my note-book (that sure index, to me, of my condition,) prove. What a stupid thing a note-book gets to be at sea, any way” [IA Ch. 59].

October 18, 1867 Friday

October 18 Friday – Sam, Dr. Jackson, Julius Moulton, Miss Julia Newell, and a guide left Gibraltar at noon, traveling overnight by horseback and carriage to Algeciras, Vejer, and San Fernando.

Sam’s “Holy Land Excursion. Letter from Mark Twain Number Fifteen” dated Aug. 15 ran in the Alta California [McKeithan 100-110].

October 24, 1867 Thursday

October 24 Thursday – Sam and group arrived in Cadiz. Meanwhile, the QC departed Gibraltar at 6 PM. Sam wrote from Cadiz to his mother and family about dodging quarantine and his hard journey to Seville. “…will arrive in New York ten days after this letter gets there” [MTL 2: 99].

October 25, 1867 Friday

October 25 Friday – QC arrived at Cadiz at 7:30 AM. Sam and group boarded at 10:30 AM. The QC departed Cadiz at 11 AM. Sam’s article, dated Aug. 31 “A Yankee in the Orient” ran in the New York Tribune [McKeithan 128-32].