The Life of Mark Twain: The Middle Years, 1871–1891

779 Pages·5.453 MB·English

by  Gary Scharnhorst

THE LIFE OF MARK TWAIN
THE MIDDLE YEARS

The Life of
M A R K T WA I N
•
THE MIDDLE YEARS
1871–1891
Gary Scharnhorst
UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI PRESS
Columbia
Copyright © 2019 by
The Curators of the University of Missouri
University of Missouri Press, Columbia, Missouri 65211
Printed and bound in the United States of America
All rights reserved. First printing, 2019.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Scharnhorst, Gary, author.
Title: The life of Mark Twain : the middle years, 1871-1891 / by Gary
Scharnhorst.
Description: Columbia : University of Missouri Press, [2019] | Series: Mark
Twain and his circle | Includes bibliographical references and index. |
Identifiers: LCCN 2018049235 (print) | LCCN 2018055461 (ebook) | ISBN
9780826274304 (e-book) | ISBN 9780826221896 (hardcover : alk. paper)
Subjects: LCSH: Twain, Mark, 1835-1910. | Twain, Mark, 1835-1910--Homes and
haunts. | Authors, American--19th century--Biography. | Humorists,
American--19th century--Biography.
Classification: LCC PS1331 (ebook) | LCC PS1331 .S24 2019 (print) | DDC
818/.409 [B] --dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018049235
This paper meets the requirements of the
American National Standard for Permanence of Paper
for Printed Library Materials, Z39.48, 1984.
Typefaces: Clarendon and Jenson
This book was published with the generous support of
The Missouri Humanities Council
and
The State Historical Society of Missouri
Mark Twain and His Circle
Tom Quirk and John Bird, Series Editors
Contents
Illustrations ix
Chapter 1 Elmira, Hartford, and on the Stump 3
Chapter 2 Roughing It in London and Hartford 41
Chapter 3 Round Trip 79
Chapter 4 Market Twain 109
Chapter 5 Afoot 151
Chapter 6 Delectable Land 195
Chapter 7 Grand Tour 241
Chapter 8 Coin of the Realm 289
Chapter 9 Behind the Scenes 325
Chapter 10 Down the River and Far Away 357
Chapter 11 Backstory 389
Chapter 12 Lecture Tour 423
Chapter 13 Gilded Cage 457
Chapter 14 Bucking the Tiger 493
Chapter 15 Vanity Fair 529
Chapter 16 Camelot 559
Chapter 17 Nadir 591
vii
viii Contents
Abbreviations 623
Notes 625
Bibliography 693
Index 737
Illustrations
Figure 1. The Langdon mansion in Elmira. 4
Figure 2. Quarry Farm, the Clemens family’s summer
home. 5
Figure 3. Langdon Clemens, 1872. 15
Figure 4. Caricature of Samuel Clemens playing cards
with the shah of Persia, 1873. 82
Figure 5. Samuel Clemens’s self- portrait, sent to
Thomas Bailey Aldrich, 1874. 118
Figure 6. Clemens family gathering, fall 1874. 123
Figure 7. The Quarry Farm study from overhead. 123
Figure 8. Samuel Clemens at work in his Quarry Farm
study, ca. 1880. 124
Figure 9. John T. Raymond and Samuel Clemens,
ca. 1874. 132
Figure 10. The Hartford house dining room. 147
Figure 11. The Hartford house billiard room. 148
Figure 12. The Hartford house on Farmington Avenue. 149
Figure 13. Frank Millet portrait of Samuel Clemens,
January 1877. 203
Figure 14. Samuel Clemens and John Lewis, 1902. 227
Figure 15. Panorama of Heidelberg, Germany, ca. 1908. 251
Figure 16. The Schloss- Hotel, Heidelberg, from across
the river, engraving, 1880. 252
ix