– U.S. Consulate sent Venetian Bills of Lading for things purchased [MTP].

– Sam’s notebook:

“Visited  the Catacombs. One mummy (shapeless) & one slender young girl’s long hair  & decaying bones— both in stone coffins & both between 15 & 1600  years old.”

– Sam’s notebook:

“…spent all day in Vedder’s lofty studio & the evening  with him & another artist spinning yarns & drinking beer in a quiet  saloon. Big row in the street but no bloodshed.” 

 Elihu Vedder was an American artist who kept a studio in  Rome. Sam visited the studio several times [MTNJ 2:  242]. (See Nov. 9 entry.)

– Sam wrote from Rome, Italy to Joe  Twichell. After discussing the  matter of a clock Sam had purchased, sending it home through Will Sage, which caused all sorts  of red tape, Sam sent compliments on Joe’s letters.

–  Sam’s notebook:

“Great festa-day—shops all closed. Attended High Mass in a  chapel of St. Peters. Heaps of people of all ages sexes & professions  kissing (& scrubbing) St Peter Jupiter’s toe. He looks like a black negro  & has short crisp hair” [MTNJ 2: 239].

November – In Sam’s  notebook there’s an entry “Little Pedlington” which refers to John Poole’s   1839 book, Little Pedlington and the Pedlingtonians. Gribben quotes E.  Cobham Brewer, calling this “an imaginary place, the village of quackery and  can’t, egotism and humbug, affectation and flatter” [553].

Sam noted “Turganieff’s Visions”  and “Visions, a Phantasy, by Tourganieff—in the Galaxy”  in his notebook [MTNJ 2: 244, 247].

Sam received letters from Will Sage and Joe Twichell about payments required and red tape needed to  get the “two boxes of Clocks” through customs. He  made a note to do a chapter in his book about “this most scoundrelly &  infernal custom house system” [MTNJ 2: 237].

Sam’s notebook:

Sam visited the Sistine Chapel,  commenting on work by Raphael. He counted 25 courtyards in the Vatican.  He noted the Tom of the Virgin and wrote “How  she would draw in N.Y.” [MTNJ 2:  237].

Gustavo Sarfatti wrote to Sam (Sept. 29 from  Sarfatti enclosed) [MTP].
 

In his notebook, Sam concluded that the “Immaculate  Conception has ceased to be a wearying & worrisome question.” What the  Ecumenical Council should “decide once & forever” was, “who was it that  struck Billy Patterson?” (From Wm. Porter’s collection, The Big Bear  of Arkansas and Other Sketches) [MTNJ 2:  235]. More from Sam’s notebook:

It is the more ridiculous spectacle to see a Virgin or a  copper Aristotle stuck on top of every stately monument of the grand old  “pagan” days of Rome.

The Clemens family left Florence for Rome. The trip took 8 hours  and they arrived at 4:30 PM [MTNJ 2: 235]. The party stayed at  the Hotel d’Allemania. Sam noted the cost of  the rooms, three coffees, one beefsteak and three “table d’hotes” (communal  table, full-course meal) totaling 48.25 francs, paid at 5 PM [281].