October 30 Sunday – In Florence, Sam sent a postscript to Laurence Hutton, consisting of a six-line verse, headed, “Respectfully Dedicated to the Author of the ‘Rhyme of the Guileless Gondolier’” [MTP].
Susy Clemens wrote to Louise Brownell:
October 31 Monday – In Florence Sam wrote to Frank E. Bliss of the American Publishing Co., his old publisher.
I hear you are issuing a $1 edition of Tom Sawyer. I believe I have a 10 per cent royalty on that book. If so, go ahead; but I cannot consent to let your firm reduce the retail price of any other of my books without first making special contracts with me.
November 1 Tuesday – Mrs. William S. Karr sent Mr. & Mrs. Clemens a wedding invitation for her daughter Helen to Mr. Lucius Chester Ryce, on this date in Hartford [MTP]. Note: Geer’s 1886 Hartford City Directory lists “Karr William S. professor Hartford Theological Seminary.”
November 2 Wednesday – In Florence Sam wrote to Franklin G. Whitmore. The bulk of Sam’s letter expresses dissatisfaction with American Publishing Co. He wished he could get the contracts with them annulled, since he felt a “deliberate violation of the most important feature” of their contracts should allow him to do so. They did not allow Webster & Co. to make a sufficient profit on the books they published, giving only “not ten cents on any book” of his.
November 3 Thursday – In Florence Sam wrote to “Baby Ruth” — one year old Ruth Cleveland (1891-1904).
Dear Miss Cleveland:
November 4 Friday – In Florence Sam wrote to Frederick J. Hall, requesting that “cloth copies of such books of mine as you publish (no others)” be sent to Vice-Consul-General A.S. Hogue in Frankfurt. “He has been having my MS typewritten in his office and refuses pay” [MTP].
November 5 Saturday – In Florence Sam wrote to daughter Clara at Mrs. Mary B. Willard’s school in Berlin of recent events and of a visit this day by Laurence Hutton.
Uncle Larry was up, to-day, but your Aunt Larry was kept at home by illness. He was very lovely, & stayed till 4 & I walked down with him nearly to that bridge-arch which is at this end of the Via della Cenacolo. He says Mr. Booth is doubtless nearing his end — Booth himself thinks so, & speaks of it unregretfully.
November 6 Sunday – In Florence, Susy Clemens wrote Louise Brownell:
November 8 Tuesday – In Florence Sam wrote to Miss Page, thanking her for letting him “see those pleasant words.” Miss Page and those mentioned were evidently residents of Florence.
November 9 Wednesday – Livy came down with an attack of dysentery [Nov. 10 to Clara Clemens].
J.W. Ryckman for Authors & Actors Carnival, N.Y.C. wrote asking Sam to be on the “Committee of prominent citizens” for the carnival, Dec. 19 to 31 [MTP].
November 10 Thursday – In Florence, Sam wrote a short note thanking Chatto & Windus for a copy of Finger Prints which just arrived. He would “devour it” [MTP]. Note: See Gribben, p.251. Francis Galton was the author (1892). Sam would use the new science in his detective tale, Pudd’nhead Wilson. See also June 25, 1895 and Feb. 23, 1897 entries relating to Galton’s book and its contribution.
November 11 Friday – The King sisters ended their month-long visit and left for Paris [Nov. 10 to Clara Clemens]. Sam threw himself into finishing PW:
Dec. 20/92. Finished ‘Pudd’nhead Wilson’ last Wednesday, 14th. Began it 11th or 12th of last month, after the King girls left. Wrote more than 60,000 words between Nov. 12 and Dec. 14. One day, [Dec. 1] wrote 6,000 words in 13 hours. Another day wrote 5,000 in 11 [MTLTP 328-9; NB 32, TS 51].
November 12 Saturday – The N.Y. Times, Nov. 13, 1892 p.2 ran an obituary notice for Dr. A. Reeves Jackson of Chicago, who died this day.
…the original of Mark Twain’s character My Friend the Doctor, in “Innocents Abroad,” died …Dr. Jackson had been ill ten days from the effects of a stroke of apoplexy. He will be interred at Janesville, Wis. [Note: Dr. Jackson was one of Sam’s favorites on the QC excursion.]
November 13 Sunday – In Florence, Sam sent condolences to his Hartford attorney and billiards buddy, Henry C. Robinson, whose mother had just passed away. The Courant had come and Sam mentioned “Dr. Parker’s well-thought & well-said words” [MTP].
November 16 Wednesday – In Florence Sam wrote to daughter Clara at Mrs. Mary B. Willard’s school in Berlin. In the top margin he wrote that Ned Bunce wanted her address. After expressing concern for Clara reporting she’d had a case of the “grippe” (flu; influenza) he wrote he was relieved she was better. Livy was not; she was “very weak & all wasted away.”
November 20 Sunday – Elihu Root for the New England Society wrote to Sam, asking him to respond to a toast at the 87th annual dinner held Dec. 22 [MTP].
November 24 Thursday – In Florence Sam wrote to Henry M. Alden of Harper & Brothers. He had sent what he thought was “the most delicious thing that has been offered to a magazine in 30 years,” and would “never get over the astonishment” of Alden’s rejection, simply because Sam did not write it.
November 26 Saturday – A. Bliss wrote from Harrow, England asking for Sam’s autograph [MTP].
November 27 Sunday – Livy’s 47th birthday. Sam wrote her a three-stanza poem titled, “The Earth Invoketh the Sun” [MTP].
November 28–December 1 Thursday – In Florence Sam wrote to George H. Warner.
November 30 Wednesday – Sam’s 57th Birthday. From his notebook in Florence:
Nov. 30, 1892 — 57 years old. I wish it were either 17 or 97 [NB 32 TS 47].
December – Gribben writes, “In Florence in December 1892 Clemens made a series of notes which seem to indicate that he had purchased an unspecified book by William James (NB 32, TS pp.51, 53).” Gribben lists this under James’ The Principles of Psychology (1890) [351]. Gribben also notes Sam referred to “Milton Sonnet” in his notebook this month [476-7].
December 1 Thursday – Sam worked on several chapters in his new novel, PW, writing 6,000 words in 13 hours of work. Sam considered 2,000 words “an honest day’s work” [Dec. 2 to Whitmore].
December 2 Friday – In Florence Sam wrote to Frederick J. Hall, giving his “cable address” and addressing a list of items.
Your statement does indeed show up handsomely. It looks as if we’re about out of the woods at last. So mote it be!
Sam also liked a catalogue sent and noted receiving a “very pleasant letter” from Mary Mapes Dodge. He felt $4,000 was enough, he guessed, for Part I of Tom Sawyer Abroad, giving that it only took him “3 weeks to write it.” He also asked about an old article:
December 6 Tuesday – Mr. and Mrs. Irvin Auchingcloss Sprague sent the Clemenses a wedding invitation for her sister, Miss Ottilia Carlotta Muller on this date at Grace Church, Brooklyn [MTP].