November 18 Wednesday – Sam’s notebook: “Mrs. Crocker T.D. f / Villa Solferino / 8 & 10 Via Solferino / Dinner, 7 p.m. / (& Mrs. Acklan)” [NB 46 TS 30]. Note: Mrs. Mary Aklom (Mrs. A.J. Aklom), appears in various spellings.
St. Clair McKelway wrote a letter of introduction to Sam for Miss Theodosia Lawson Boone, “now a visitor in Florence, but a resident of New York City” [MTP]. Note: see Nov. 23 from Theodosia Boone.
November 19 Thursday – In Florence, George Gregory Smith wrote to his mother: “We necessarily see a good deal of Mark Twain & his family. They are all delightful people” [Orth 31].
Sam’s notebook: “Dr. S. (G)iglioli—see Biagi Pref. Pol. ? Vispera” / Dr. Grazzini (Little Thanky)? (Praise these.) / 147860 (Prescription / British Pharmacy” [NB 46 TS 30].
November –This issue of the Ladies’ Home Journal contained Thomas E. Marr’s “Three Famous Authors Outdoors, p. 36-7, with four of the photographs Marr took of Sam Clemens with a porcelain cat, and John T. Lewis at Quarry Farm.
November 2 Monday – The Clemens family arrived at Gibraltar. Sam’s following NB entry states they arrived at 7 a.m. and left at 2 p.m., the last leg by train from Genoa to Florence, Italy.
November 20 Friday – Isabel Lyon and her mother Georgiana Lyon arrived in Florence and were met at the train station by Jean Clemens, “wearing an incongruous lorgnette” (eyeglasses mounted on a handle: an oxymoron!) [Trombley MTOW 29]. Note: Lyon’s trip had been delayed by needed treatments for a bad eye.
November 21 Saturday – At the Villa di Quarto near Florence, Livy suffered a bad night that led Sam to search for a doctor the next day [Orth 31: Smith to his mother Nov. 22].
Isabel Lyon and her mother Georgiana Lyon had spent the night in a Florence hotel, and arrived this day at the Villa di Quarto. Isabel’s reaction to the place may be found in: [Trombley, MTOW 29-30].
November 22 Sunday – Sam’s notebook: “Interview; 10 to 12 a.m. / Mr. E. Bunbury— / Caulfield (‘Italian Gazette.)” [NB 46 TS 30].
November 23 Monday – Miss Theodosia Lawson Boone presented Sam the letter of introduction from St. Clair McKelway dated Nov. 18, 1903. Miss Boone added her own note, confessing she did not know McKelway personally, but he was an old friend of her father’s (Dr. William C. Boone) [MTP].
November 24 Tuesday – At the Villa Reale di Quarto near Florence Sam wrote to Daniel Willard Fiske.
It was fine to hear by your own hand that you had turned the corner. Let us soon see you back, & see you here. Mr. Clemens does hereby officially invite you to tea, said invitation to have force & effect on all days, be they wet or be they dry.
November 25 Wednesday – Sam wrote to Joe Twichell [MTP]. UCCL 12876 letter is not currently available.
November 26 Thursday – Thanksgiving. Sam and daughter Jean shared Thanksgiving dinner with the George Gregory Smith’s. Clara stayed behind to help care for Livy. Smith wrote to his mother on Nov. 29:
November 27 Friday – Livy’s 58th birthday.
Rogers had sent a subscription to the N.Y. Sun for Sam. The first copy arrived this day at the Villa. Sam was down with a case of gout, from which he recovered the next day [Nov. 28 to Rogers].
November 28 Saturday – At the Villa Reale di Quarto near Florence Sam wrote to H.H. Rogers, responding to a letter, date unknown, which is not extant.
November 29 Sunday – Sam’s notebook: “Mr. Caulfield, inter. 10 am” [NB 46 TS 30]. Note: Edward B. Caulfield of The Italian Gazette. Interview not in Scharnhorst. See Caulfield’s followup, Dec. 1.
George Gregory Smith wrote to Sam, enclosing copies of Paola de Plaisant’s letter and his reply.
November 3 Tuesday – The Clemens family was at sea on the Princess Irene en route for Naples, Italy (Some secondary sources report this as the arrival day for the Clemens family at the Villa Reale di Quarto, in Castello, outside of Florence, but the NB entries contradict this. The NY Times article announcing Livy’s death would give their arrival date in Florence as Nov. 8 [June 7, 1904, p.7].
November 30 Monday – Sam’s 68th Birthday.
Rogers’ office sent Clemens a statement showing a New York payment by Bedford Petroleum Co. of Paris, France, for $1,200 [1903 Financials file MTP].
An unidentified person wrote to Sam. Only the envelope survives, bearing postmarks from San Francisco, Washington D.C., and Florence; with stamps from New South Wales, Australia [MTP]. Postmarked MUDGEE, NSW, which is NW of Sydney.
November 4 Wednesday – The Clemens family was at sea on the Princess Irene en route for Naples, Italy: Sam’s notebook: “At Sea. / The disposition of the average ‘lady’ & ‘gentleman’ to stand in the door-way, the passage-way, the middle of the sidewalk, & be a nasty obstruction” [NB 46 TS 22]. Also, in the printed slot for Nov. 4: NEVER take a promenade-deck room again at any price: a mad-house is preferable. Get the Captain’s apartment, or go down cellar. And NEVER travel in an emigrant-ship. Bugs, fleas, stinks, &c” [TS 29].
November 5 Thursday – Sam’s notebook: “NAPLES. Arr. 6 a.m. / The entire promenade deck is enclosed in canvas screens—not even God knows why. It is a prison. One might as well be in the hold” [NB 46 TS 29; MTHHR 541n1].
Muriel M. Pears wrote another effusive and long letter to Sam, whom she called the “greatest, kindest, and more Unswerving Magician of Ours.” She gushed her thanks for Sam’s “unfailing goodness and generous remembrance” of his photograph [MTP].
November 6 Friday – The Clemens family arrived in Genoa, Italy. The last leg of their journey was to be by train to Florence, Italy, some six or seven hours. The New York Times ran a squib on Nov. 9, p. 7 which revealed that George Gregory Smith met the family in Genoa and accompanied them on to Florence, so likely he had arranged the rail travel, some 480 miles. This would make the family’s arrival in Florence at about 8 or 9 p.m.
November 7 Saturday – The Clemens family was in Florence, Italy. Hill claims that because Countess Massiglia would not allow Janet D. Ross to prepare the villa prior to their arrival, so they were forced to take a hotel room in town until Nov. 9 [72].
November 8 Sunday – The New York Times, p.7 ran a short note of the Clemenses arrival in Florence:
Mark Twain’s Villa Near Florence.
November 9 Monday – The Clemens family took possession of the Villa di Quarto [Hill 72; Willis 1]. Note: Servants at the Villa di Quarto: Carlo Cosi (Chef), Adelasia Curradi (Upstairs maid), Gigia Brunori (Kitchen maid), Celestino Bruschi (footman), Theresa Bini, Ugo Piemontini (Butler), Emilio Talorici (?) coachman [AMT 1: group photo after p. 204]. Note: Katy Leary also in photo.
October 10 Saturday – Sam also wrote to Frank N. Doubleday [MTP]. UCCL 12873 letter is not available.
Sam’s notebook: “H. [Harpers] has no subscription-rights in last 2 books. / 1847. Witnessed post mortem of my uncle through the keyhole” [NB 46 TS 25]. Note: curiously, it was his father, not his uncle; also probably not a regular post-mortem, and probably not much could be seen through the keyhole.
October 11 Sunday – Sam’s notebook: “Go to Riverdale, after Mrs. Day’s” [NB 46 TS 25]. Note: Alice Hooker Day (Mrs. John Calvin Day); the nature of the errand is unclear.
George Gregory Smith, in Florence, Italy, wrote his mother: “On Wednesday last [Oct. 7] I signed the lease of the Villa di Quarto for Mark Twain. It is really very fine & beautifully furnished. He cables his satisfaction” [Orth 30]. Note: Sam’s responding cable is not extant.
October 12 Monday – At the Grosvenor Hotel in N.Y.C. Sam began a letter to Frank N. Doubleday that he added a PS to on Oct. 13.