| Published in 1869 by American Publishing Co., Hartford, Conn. | Based on the 50 letters Twain wrote to the Alta California newspaper about the voyage; the Alta paid for Clemens' ticket in exchange for the writings. | |||
| Twain began the book in Washington, D.C., while working for Sen. William Stewart; he used his sister Pamela's scrapbook of his published letters for material. |  |
Twain made "celebrities" out of the other passengers, whom he heavily caricatured; these include: Dan Slote, Jack Van Nostrand, the Doctor (Abraham Jackson), and the Oracle (Dr. Edward Andrews). | ||
| The editors of the Alta didn't want Twain to use material from the letters for the book because they were also planning to put out a book on the subject; Twain finished the book in San Francisco, where he went to argue for the rights to the letters. | ||||
Excerpt
I love this sort of people. A lady passenger of ours tells of a fellow-citizen of hers who spent eight weeks in Paris and then returned home and addressed his dearest old bosom friend Herbert as Mr. "Er-bare!" He apologized, though, and said, "'Pon my soul it is aggravating, but I cahn't help it Erbare - damme there it goes again!-got so used to French pronunciation that I cahn't get rid of it. This entertaining idiot...allowed himself to be hailed three times in the street before he paid any attention, and...said he had grown so accustomed to hearing himself addressed as M'sieu Gor-r-dong," with a roll to the r, that he had forgotten the legitimate sound of his name!
The Route
Departure from New York City (June 10, 1867)Atlantic crossing and Azores Islands (June 10-23)
Gibraltar and Tangier (June 23-July 1)
Marseilles and Paris (July 4-July 13)
Genoa, Milan, Como, Venice, Florence, Pisa, Rome, Vatican, Naples, Pompeii (July 14-Aug. 11)
Athens (Aug. 14-15)
Constantinople (Aug. 17-19)
Sevastopol, Odessa, Yalta (Aug. 21-28)
Smyrna, Ephesus, Turkey (Sept.5-6)
Beirut, Damascus, Galilee, Nazareth, Jerusalem, Jaffa (Sept. 11-30)
Alexandria, Cairo, Gizeh (Oct. 2-11)
Sardinia, Algiers, Malaga, Spain (Oct. 13-17)
Bermuda (Nov. 11-15)
Return to New York (Nov. 19)