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. Couldn’t they go to court and make them prove they gave the same small discount to other customers?

Sam asked him to notify his magazines and newspapers to stop sending through Paris, but direct to Florence. He closed with another request:

Please send me another hunk of Perique tobacco — a hunk about as long as your hand. Do it up substantially (but letting a glimpse of it be visible) & careful, & address it thus, very plainly & clearly:

S.L. Clemens / Villa Viviani, Settignano / Care of the Anglo-American Stores / 41 Via Cabour, / Florence, Italy [MTP].