Early experiences as an author—Publishing of “The Jumping Frog” in volume of sketches—Meeting CarletonⒶtextual note in LucerneⒶtextual note—His apology for having refused to publish Mr. Clemens’s book of sketches—Difficulties attending the bringing out of “The Innocents Abroad.”
We are to abide here in the green solitude of the woods and hills for the next five months.Ⓐtextual note
MyⒶtextual note experiences as an author began early in 1867. I came to New York from San Francisco in the first month of that year and presently Charles H. Webb, whom I had known in San Francisco as a reporter on the Bulletin, Ⓐtextual note and afterward editor of The CalifornianⒺexplanatory note, suggested that I publish a volume of sketches. I had but a slender reputation to publish it on, but I was charmed and excited by the suggestion and quite willing to venture it if some industrious person would save me the trouble of gathering the sketches together. I was lothⒶtextual note to do it myself, for from the beginning of my sojourn in this world there was a persistent vacancy in me where the industry ought to be. (Ought to was is better, perhaps, though the most of the authorities differ as to this.)Ⓐtextual note
Webb said I had some reputation in the Atlantic StatesⒶtextual note, but I knew quite well that it must be of a very attenuated sort. What there was of it rested upon the story of “The Jumping Frog.” When Artemus Ward passed through California on a lecturing tour, in 1865 or ’66, I told him the “Jumping Frog” storyⒺexplanatory note, in San Francisco, and he asked me to write it out and send it to his publisher, CarletonⒶtextual note, in New York, to be used in padding out a small book which Artemus had prepared for the press and which needed some more stuffing to make it big enough for the price which was to be charged for it.
It reached CarletonⒶtextual note in time, but he didn’t think much of itⒺexplanatory note, and was not willing to go to the type-settingⒶtextual note expense of adding it to the book. He did not put it in the waste-basket, but made Henry Clapp a present of it, and Clapp used it to help out the funeral of his dying literaryⒶtextual note journal, The Ⓐtextual note Saturday Press. “The Jumping Frog” appeared in the last number of that paper, was the most joyous feature of the obsequiesⒺexplanatory note,Ⓐtextual note and was at once copied in the newspapers of America and England. It certainly had a wide celebrity, and it still had it at the time that I am speaking of—but I was aware that it was only the frog that was celebrated. It wasn’t I. I was still an obscurity.
Webb undertook to collate the sketchesⒺexplanatory note. He performed this office, then handed the result to me, and I went to Carleton’sⒶtextual note establishment with it. I approached a clerk and he bent eagerly over the counter to inquire into my needs; but when he found that I had come to sell a book and not to buy one, his temperature fell sixty degrees and the old-gold intrenchments in the roof of my mouth contracted three-quarters of an inch and my teeth fell out. IⒶtextual note meekly asked the privilege of a word with Mr. CarletonⒶtextual note, and was coldly informed that he was in his private office. Discouragements and difficulties followed, but after a while I got by the frontier and entered the holy of holiesⒶtextual note. Ah, now I remember how I managed it! Webb had made an appointment for me with CarletonⒶtextual note; otherwise I never should have gotten over that frontier. CarletonⒶtextual note rose and said brusquely and aggressively,
“WellⒶtextual note, what can I do for you?”Ⓐtextual note
I reminded him that I was there by appointment to offer him my book for publication. He began to swell, and went on swelling and swelling and swelling until he had reached the dimensions of a god of about the second or third degree. Then the fountains of his great deep were broken up, and for two or three minutes I couldn’t see him for the rain. It was words, only words, but they fell so densely that they darkened the atmosphere. Finally he made an imposing sweep with his right handⒶtextual note which comprehended the whole room and said,
“BooksⒶtextual note—look at those shelves!Ⓐtextual note Every one of them is loaded with books that are waiting for publication. Do I want any more? Excuse me, I don’t. Good morning.”
Twenty-one years elapsed before I saw CarletonⒶtextual note again. I was then sojourning with my family at the SchweitzerhofⒶtextual note, in LucerneⒶtextual note. He called on me, shook hands cordially, and said at once, without any preliminaries,
“IⒶtextual note am substantially an obscure person, but I have at least one distinction to my credit of such colossal dimensions that it entitles meⒶtextual note to immortality—to wit: I refused a book of yoursⒺexplanatory note, and for this I stand without competitor as the prize ass of the nineteenth century.”Ⓐtextual note
It was a most handsome apology, and I told him so, and said it was a long delayedⒶtextual note revenge but was sweeter to me than any other that could be devised; that during the lapsed twenty-one years I had in fancy taken his life several times every year, and always in new and increasingly cruel and inhumanⒶtextual note ways, but that now I was pacified, appeased, happy, even jubilant; and that thenceforth I should hold him my true and valued friend and never kill him again.
I reported my adventure to Webb, and he bravely said that not all the CarletonsⒶtextual note in the universe should defeat that book; he would publish it himself on a 10 per centⒶtextual note royalty. [begin page 48] And so he did. He brought it out in blue and gold, and made a very pretty little book of it. I think he named it “The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County, and Other Sketches,” price $1.25. He made the plates and printed and bound the book through a job printing-house,Ⓐtextual note and published it through the American News CompanyⒺexplanatory note.
In June I sailed in the Quaker City ExcursionⒶtextual note. I returned in November, and in Washington found a letter from Elisha Bliss of the American Publishing Company of Hartford, offering me 5 per centⒶtextual note royalty on a book which should recount the adventures of the excursionⒶtextual note. In lieu of the royalty,Ⓐtextual note I was offered the alternative of ten thousand dollarsⒺexplanatory note cash upon delivery of the manuscript. I consulted A. D. RichardsonⒺexplanatory note and he said “takeⒶtextual note the royalty.” IⒶtextual note followed his advice and closed with Bliss. By my contract I was to deliver the manuscript in July of 1868Ⓐtextual note. I wrote the book in San Francisco and delivered the manuscript within contract time. Bliss provided a multitude of illustrations for the book, and then stopped work on it.Ⓐtextual note The contract date for the issueⒶtextual note went byⒺexplanatory note,Ⓐtextual note and there was no explanation of this. Time drifted along and still there was no explanation. I was lecturing all over the countryⒺexplanatory note;Ⓐtextual note and about thirty times a day, on an average, I was trying to answer this conundrum:Ⓐtextual note
“WhenⒶtextual note is your book coming out?”
IⒶtextual note got tired ofⒶtextual note inventing new answers to that question,Ⓐtextual note and by and by I got horribly tired of the question itself. Whoever asked it became my enemy at once, and I was usually almost eager to make that appear.
As soon as I was free of the lecture fieldⒶtextual note I hastened to Hartford to make inquiries. Bliss said thatⒶtextual note the fault was not his; thatⒶtextual note heⒶtextual note wanted to publish the book butⒶtextual note the directorsⒶtextual note of his Company were staid old fossilsⒶtextual note and wereⒶtextual note afraid of it. They had examined the book, and the majority of them were of the opinion that there were places in it of a humorous character. Bliss said the house had never published a book that had a suspicion like that attaching to it, and that the directorsⒶtextual note were afraid that a departure of this kind couldⒶtextual note seriously injure the house’s reputation; that he was tied hand and foot, and was not permitted to carry out his contract. One of the directorsⒶtextual note, a Mr. Drake—at least he was the remains of what had once been a Mr. Drake—invited me to take a ride with him in his buggy, and I went along. He was a pathetic old relic, and his ways and his talk were also pathetic. He had a delicate purpose in view and it took him some time to hearten himself sufficiently to carry it out, but at last he accomplished it. He explained the house’s difficulty and distress, as Bliss had already explained it. Then he frankly threw himself and the house upon my mercy and begged me to take away “The Innocents Abroad”Ⓔexplanatory note and release the concern from the contract. I said I wouldn’t—and so ended the interview and the buggy excursion. Then I warned Bliss that he must get to work or I should make trouble. He acted upon the warning, and set up the book and I read the proofs. Then there was another long wait and no explanation. At last toward the end of July (1869Ⓐtextual note I think),Ⓐtextual note I lost patience and telegraphed Bliss that if the book was not on sale in twenty-four hours I should bring suit for damages.
ThatⒶtextual note ended the trouble. Half a dozen copies were bound and placed on sale within the required timeⒺexplanatory note. Then the canvassing began,Ⓐtextual note and went briskly forward. In nine months the book took the publishing house out of debt, advanced its stock from twenty-five to [begin page 49] two hundred, and left seventy thousand dollars’Ⓐtextual note profit to the goodⒺexplanatory note. It was Bliss that told me this—but if it was true,Ⓐtextual note it was the first time that heⒶtextual note had told the truth in sixty-five years. He was born in 1804.Ⓐtextual note
Charles H. Webb . . . The Californian] Charles Henry Webb (1834–1905) was born in northern New York State. Inspired by reading Moby-Dick when it was first published (1851), he shipped on a whaler, where he served for more than three years. In 1860 he began a long career as a writer and journalist when he joined the staff of the New York Times, serving as its literary editor and, briefly, as a correspondent during the Civil War. In 1863 he went to California, where he worked as city editor of the San Francisco Evening Bulletin. In May 1864 he founded the Californian, alternating with Bret Harte as editor until mid-1866, when Webb left for New York (for Clemens’s association with the Californian see AutoMT1 , 509 n. 150.2–4). He published parodies and light verse in several journals, and corresponded for the New York Tribune under the pseudonym “John Paul.” He was a successful inventor as well, and was granted patents on a cartridge-loading machine (which he sold to the Remington Arms Company) and an adding machine.
Artemus Ward passed through California . . . in 1865 or ’66, I told him the “Jumping Frog” story] Clemens met, and enjoyed a convivial time with, popular humorist Artemus Ward (born Charles Farrar Browne, 1834–67) in December 1863, when the latter lectured in Virginia City. Ward soon recommended Clemens to the New York Sunday Mercury (which ultimately published nine Mark Twain sketches). Then in November 1864 he wrote to ask Clemens to contribute a story to his forthcoming book, Artemus Ward; His Travels (Charles Farrar Browne 1865). But Clemens did not see Ward’s letter until February 1865, after his return from Angels Camp, where he first heard the “Jumping Frog” story, and by then he thought it was too late to comply. When Ward persisted, Clemens wrote at least two drafts of the story before sending the final draft, “Jim Smiley and His Jumping Frog,” to New York in mid-October 1865. So Clemens never “told” Ward the story, although he did tell it to Bret Harte and others before he managed to write it out to his satisfaction ( L1: 2? Jan 1864 to JLC, 267, 269–70 nn. 5–6; link note following 11 Nov 1864 to OC, 320–22; 20 Jan 1866 to JLC and PAM, 327–28, 330 n. 3; ET&S2, 262–65; AutoMT1 , 515 n. 161.9–10).
his publisher, Carleton . . . didn’t think much of it] George W. Carleton (1832–1901) began his publishing career as a humorous illustrator. In 1857 he cofounded a bookstore and publishing house in New York, becoming sole proprietor in 1861. By 1869 the firm was one of the most successful of its era, specializing in works of humor and popular fiction, encyclopedias, and self-improvement books. In addition to Ward, Carleton’s list of authors included humorist Josh Billings (Henry Wheeler Shaw) and Thomas Bailey Aldrich, who for a time also served as his literary adviser (Murray 1986, 84–85; “Obituary. George W. Carleton,” Publishers’ Weekly, 19 Oct 1901, 857). In an 1895 interview Clemens gave a different (and apparently more accurate) account: he claimed that Ward’s “volume was got out before ‘The Jumping Frog’ arrived” (“A Chat with Mark Twain,” New Zealand Mail [Wellington], 12 Dec 1895, 51, quoted in Scharnhorst 2006, 259–60).
made Henry Clapp a present of it . . . joyous feature of the obsequies] Henry Clapp, Jr. (1814–75), a journalist, satirist, and brilliant wit, was the center of a group of New York “bohemians,” writers and other artists who congregated at Pfaff’s saloon to carouse and converse. In 1858 he founded the Saturday Press, a literary weekly of fiction, poetry, and critical commentary. It ceased publication in December 1860, but resumed in August 1865; “Jim Smiley and His Jumping Frog” appeared in the issue of 18 November 1865 (SLC 1865e). Although the magazine was in financial difficulty, it survived for seven more months. Elsewhere Clemens recalled that Carleton gave the story to Clapp “for nothing, which was lucky, as Henry Clapp never could pay for anything” (“A Chat with Mark Twain,” New Zealand Mail [Wellington], 12 Dec 1895, 51, quoted in Scharnhorst 2006, 259–60). Clapp lived for many years in poverty, contributing occasionally to magazines and newspapers, and died from complications of alcoholism (“Obituary. Henry Clapp,” New York Times, 11 Apr 1875, 7; “The Late Henry Clapp,” New York Daily Graphic, 16 Apr 1875, unknown page; Mott 1938a, 38–40).
Webb undertook to collate the sketches] Bret Harte proposed to Clemens in January 1866 that they issue a joint collection of sketches, but they did not pursue the idea. Clemens did, however, gather clippings of some of his Enterprise and Californian sketches into a scrapbook, which he carried with him when he left San Francisco for New York in December 1866. It was there, in early 1867, that Webb persuaded him to reprint some of his sketches. The present account implies that Webb prepared the book, entitled The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County, and Other Sketches, but it is clear that Clemens himself played a large role in selecting and revising the twenty-seven sketches included in the collection (20 Jan 1866 to JLC and PAM, L1, 328; for a detailed account of the editing process see ET&S1, 503–42).
I refused a book of yours] Carleton explained elsewhere that he had declined the manuscript “because the author looked so disreputable” (Ellsworth 1919, 222, quoted in ET&S1, 505 n. 8).
He made the plates . . . and published it through the American News Company] The book, issued in April 1867, was printed and bound by John A. Gray and Green and distributed by the American News Company; it sold for $1.50 ( ET&S1, 543–45).
found a letter from Elisha Bliss . . . alternative of ten thousand dollars] Bliss’s letter, written on 21 November 1867, is now lost, but when Clemens replied on 2 December he proposed a book based on the newspaper letters he had written during the Quaker City excursion, weeded “of their chief faults of construction & inelegancies of expression. . . . If you think such a book would suit your purpose, please drop me a line.” Bliss accepted, and in late January 1868 they agreed that the author’s royalty would be 5 percent of the retail price of the book (for Bliss, the Quaker City excursion, and the writing of The Innocents Abroad, see AutoMT1 , 227–28, 537 n. 227.13–14, 596 n. 370.32–33; L2: 2 Dec 1867 to Bliss, 119; 24 Jan 1868 to JLC and PAM, 160, 162–63 n. 3; 27 Jan 1868 to Bliss, 169).
I consulted A. D. Richardson] Albert Deane Richardson (1833–69), journalist and traveler, worked on several newspapers in the East and Midwest before joining the staff of the New York Tribune, for which he corresponded during the Civil War. He was captured by the Confederates at Vicksburg, but escaped after eighteen months in prison. His books about his war experiences (The Secret Service, the Field, the Dungeon, and the Escape, 1865) and the Far West (Beyond the Mississippi, 1867), published by the American Publishing Company, sold 100,000 and 75,000 copies respectively (2 Dec 1867 to Bliss, L2, 120–21 n. 4).
Bliss provided a multitude of illustrations . . . contract date for the issue went by] The Innocents Abroad was published by the subscription method: agents solicited prepublication orders and delivered books when they came from the press. Clemens’s contract, signed on 16 October 1868, stipulated that copies would be ready for the agents to deliver “very early next spring,” which proved to be overly optimistic (“Contract for The Innocents Abroad,” L2, 421–22).
I was lecturing all over the country] Clemens was on tour from mid-November 1868 until mid-March 1869, delivering “The American Vandal Abroad,” about the Quaker City excursion, more than forty times in the East and Midwest (“Lecture Schedule, 1868–1870,” L3, 481–83).
One of the directors, a Mr. Drake . . . begged me to take away “The Innocents Abroad”] As a young man Sidney Drake (1811–98) was apprenticed to a bookbinder in Hartford, and in 1841 began his own bookbinding business, which—with various partners—endured for over fifty years. He was a director of the American Publishing Company from its inception in 1865, and president in 1869. Clemens gave a similar account of this incident in 1903, claiming that Drake begged him, “as a charity, to take the book away, because it was not serious enough and could finish the destruction of the Company” (SLC 1903a; “Death of Sidney Drake,” Hartford Courant, 14 Feb 1898, 7).
I lost patience and telegraphed Bliss . . . sale within the required time] No such telegram has been found, but in a bitter letter of 22 July 1869 Clemens accused Bliss of deliberately causing “annoying & damaging delays” by promoting books by other authors. He claimed, sarcastically, that he desired only “to be informed from time to time what future season of the year the publication is postponed to, & why.” Bliss explained that the book had initially been late because of the large number of illustrations; he had then decided to postpone it until the fall to increase sales. The copyright was registered on 28 July, and canvassing began in early August ( L3: 22 July 1869 to Bliss, 284–85, 286 n. 1; 1 Aug 1869 to Bliss, 287 n. 1; 12 Aug 1869 to Bliss, 291–92, 292–94 n. 1; Hirst 1975, 255–57).
In nine months . . . seventy thousand dollars’ profit to the good] In 1903 Clemens calculated that by “February or March” 1870 the American Publishing Company had earned about $91,000 net profit on The Innocents Abroad, $20,000 of which had gone to pay off debts. Calculations based on the company’s bindery records suggest a slightly lower net profit in the first nine months of sales, about $85,000 (SLC 1903a; Hirst 1975, 314–17).
Source documents.
TS1 Typescript, leaves numbered 726–33 (altered in pencil to 736–43), made from Hobby’s notes and revised.TS2 Typescript, leaves numbered 883–90, made from the revised TS1.
TS3 Typescript, leaves numbered 4–11, made from the revised TS1 and further revised.
NAR 2pf Galley proofs of NAR 2, typeset from the revised TS3 and further revised (the same extent as NAR 2), ViU.
NAR 2 North American Review 183 (21 September 1906), 449–53: ‘My experiences . . . in 1804.’ (46.22–49.3).
Hobby incorporated Clemens’s revisions on TS1 into TS3, prepared in August 1906 as printer’s copy for the North American Review. She evidently typed TS2 somewhat later—again copying the revised TS1—and introduced changes in paragraphing on her own initiative. In three cases (47.18–19, 47.26–27, 47.32) her changes duplicate those that Clemens himself made on TS3, which are of course adopted. In two other instances, however (48.9–10, 48.10), her introduced paragraphing varies from TS3 (the more authoritative document of the two, since it received Clemens’s attentions), and has therefore been rejected. Clemens revised TS3 for NAR publication, and it appeared there with an excerpt from the AD of 3 April 1906, part of “Scraps from My Autobiography. From Chapter IX,” and “Robert Louis Stevenson and Thomas Bailey Aldrich.”
Marginal Notes on TS2 and TS3 Concerning Publication in NAR