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1
Francis Edgar Bliss (1843–1915), treasurer of the American
Publishing Company of Hartford, was the son of Elisha Bliss, Jr.
(1821–80), the firm’s secretary and chief
executive officer (
L2, 245 n. 3).
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2
Bliss’s progress report has not survived, but evidently it did
not suggest any departure from the plan to publish Clemens’s
book in March 1869. Clemens had delivered his manuscript, together with
various photographs to be used in illustrating it, to the American
Publishing Company in August 1868, expecting publication later that
year. But by mid-October, after a second visit to Hartford, he had
agreed to a postponement of several months, chiefly in order to provide
time to illustrate. His contract with the company was signed on 16
October, and specified that electrotyping—that is, final
preparation of the printing plates—was to be completed within
six months, by mid-February 1869 (
L2, 169, 239 n. 2, 421–22). On 10 November 1868, the
Hartford
Courant summarized the situation:
“Mark Twain’s new book—‘New
Pilgrim’s Progress’—will be issued
about the middle of next March. It was the intention to get it out this
fall, but in order to more profusely illustrate it, delay was decided
upon” (“Our Publishing Houses,” 2). The
first copies of
The Innocents Abroad were not, in
fact, ready until July 1869.
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3
Used during shaving for wiping soap and whiskers from the razor
(Carter).
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4
In addition to Frank—Elisha Bliss’s son by his
first wife, Lois, who had died in 1855—the Bliss family
consisted of Elisha’s second wife, Amelia, whom he had
married in 1856, and their three children: Walter
(1858–1917), Emma (b. 1860), and Almira (b. 1865). Clemens
had stayed with the Blisses while in Hartford in August and October 1868
to work on his book (
L2, 239 n. 2, 245, 257–58 n. 1).
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5
Clemens had canceled “
Mark” with a
double line.
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Source text(s):
MS, Willard S. Morse Collection, Collection of American Literature, Beinecke
Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University (
CtY-BR).
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Previous publication:
L3, 14–15; MTLP, 17.
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Provenance:
donated to CtY in 1942 by Walter F. Frear.
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Emendations and textual notes:
shaving-paper •
shaving-|paper