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MARK TWAIN IN THE CALIFORNIAN
1864-1867

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The Californian was a San Francisco weekly literary journal established by Charles Henry Webb in May 1864. Shortly after Bret Harte assumed the reins of editor, Mark Twain was hired to contribute one article per week. He received $50 per month for his contributions. Approximately fifty Mark Twain articles ultimately appeared in The Californian. Several of Twain's contributions to The Californian were collected and published by Webb in 1867 in The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County, and Other Sketches.

October 1, 1864 - A Notable Conundrum
October 8, 1864 - Concerning the Answer to That Conundrum
October 15, 1864 - Still further Concerning That Conundrum
October 22, 1864 - Whereas [Love's Bakery; Aurelia's Unfortunate Young Man]
October 29, 1864 - A Touching Story of George Washington's Boyhood [version online from classicallibrary.org]
November 5, 1864 - Daniel in the Lion's Den - and Out Again All Right
November 12, 1864 - The Killing of Julius Caesar "Localized" [version online from classicallibrary.org]
November 19, 1864 - A Full and Reliable Account of the Extraordinary Meteoric Shower of Last Saturday Night
December 3, 1864 - Lucretia Smith's Soldier
March 18, 1865 - An Unbiased Criticism
May 6, 1865 - Important Correspondence
May 13, 1865 - Further of Mr. Mark Twain's Important Correspondence
May 27, 1865 - How I Went to the Great Race Between Lodi and Norfolk
May 27, 1865 - A Voice for Setchell [review of actor Dan Setchell]
June 3, 1865 - Answers to Correspondents - Discarded Lover; Arabella; Persecuted Unfortunate; Arthur Augustus
June 10, 1865 - Answers to Correspondents - Amateur Serenader; St. Clair Higgins, Los Angeles; Arithmeticus, Virginia, Nevada; Ambitious Learner, Oakland; Julia Maria; Nom de Plume; Melton Mowbray, Dutch Flat; Laura Matilda; Professional Beggar
June 17, 1865 - Answers to Correspondents - Moral Statistician; Simon Wheeler, Sonora; Inquirer; Anna Maria; Charming Simplicity; Literary Connoisseur; Etiquetticus, Monitor Silver Mines
June 24, 1865 - Answers to Correspondents - True Son of the Union; Socrates Murphy; Arithmeticus, Virginia, Nevada; Young Mother; Blue-Stocking, San Francisco; Agnes St. Clair Smith
July 1, 1865 - Answers to Correspondents - Young Actor; Mary, Rincon School; Anxiety, S. F.; Mark Twain; Gold Hill News
July 8, 1865 - Answers to Correspondents - Inquirer, Sacramento; Student of Etiquette; Mary, Rincon School., S. Browne
August 26, 1865 - The Facts
October 28, 1865 - Real Estate versus Imaginary Possessions, Poetically Considered - "My Ranch"
November 4, 1865 - 'Mark Twain' On the Ballad Infliction [reprinted from the Territorial Enterprise]
November 11, 1865 - Exit Bummer [reprinted from the Territorial Enterprise]
November 18, 1865 - 'Mark Twain' on the Launch of the Steamer "Capital"; The Entertaining History of the Scriptural Panoramist
November 25, 1865 - The Old Thing [reprinting from the Territorial Enterprise]
December 2, 1865 - "Mark Twain Overpowered" [reprinting of "Uncle Lige" from the Territorial Enterprise]
December 16, 1865 - The Celebrated Jumping Frog Of Calaveras County

Explanation regarding the
various titles and reprints of
"The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County."

"Jim Smiley and His Jumping Frog" appeared in the Saturday Press, on Nov 18, 1865. Bret Harte reprinted it in The Californian on December 16, 1865 giving it the new title "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County." Mark Twain, no doubt, approved or supplied the new title and also changed the name "Smiley" to "Greeley" throughout the Californian version. This title was also used in the The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County book (1867) for which Twain submitted a revised copy from the Californian which restored the name "Smiley." And it was used in the Routledge reprints as well as in the authorized Mark Twain's Sketches issued with revised text by Twain in 1872. The text of "The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County" in Mark Twain's Sketches, No. 1, was derived from Routledge's Mark Twain's Sketches. Mark Twain clearly changed "Celebrated" to "Notorious" for this edition. And he used this typesetting when he reprinted the sketch, with elaborate translation into French etc., in Sketches, New and Old (1875).

December 23, 1865 - The Christmas Fireside. For Good Little Boys and Girls. By Grandfather Twain. The Story of the Bad Little Boy That Bore a Charmed Life. [version online from classicallibrary.org]
December 23, 1865 - Enigma
February 10, 1866 - Mark Twain Among the Spirits [reprinted from the Territorial Enterprise]
March 3, 1866 - A New Biography of George Washington [reprinted from the Territorial Enterprise]
March 24, 1866 - A Complaint About Correspondents [version online from classicalllibrary.org]
April 7, 1866 - On Linden, etc.
April 21, 1866 - Mark Twain at Sea [reprinted from Sacramento Daily Union of April 17, 1866]
April 28, 1866 - Mark Twain on His Travels
May 26, 1866 - Mark Twain on His Travels
June 2, 1866 - Mark Twain on a Singular Character
July 7, 1866 - A Strange Dream [version online from classicallibrary.org]
August 25, 1866 - The Moral Phenomenon
September 22, 1866 - Mark Twain at the Islands
September 29, 1866 - Origin of Illustrious Men
January 19, 1867 - Mark Twain On Chambermaids [version online from classicallibrary.org]

 

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