Dec 20th Friday.

To Palma at 10.30.
Bought presents for Catalina (ours) Margarita, Margarita modista1, Rosa, Anita & Magdalena, Juan, Madora, Gelat, Francisco, Antonia of the Café, Maria de Sa Font Fresc, Maria Fidavera, Francisquita (Messiana) etc.
For ourselves silver mass-bell (300 years old) for table. Laura red morocoo slippers, amber cigarette holder, 4 gold buttons for brocade dress. Str. [Strenge], 4711 soap & Sch. [Schwarz] a punch-bowl. Sch [Schwarz] gave Laura a Ferdinand VI gold duro2 on chain & me a French religious art calendar. Focus promised for Monday.
Home at 10 o'clock. O.S.S off.[RG] Worked till 3 on O.S.S. [Old Soldier Sahib] which I sent off to America,3 with corrections for Richards who raised practically no objection to changes. Long letter to Liddell Hart with 17 references in "margin". His questionnaire & postscript to his other book arrived.
Honor can't come for 6 months at least. Nice letter from Lucie with Victorian ribbon for Laura.
Laura writing to Hodge.

Editorial Notes

1dress-maker. KG
2coin. KG
3to publishers Harrison Smith? eds

Hands Referenced

    • Annotation: ink correction
    • Character: regular
    • Ink: black

Places Mentioned

  • Palma

    Palma, Majorca, Sp
    Capital and largest centre of Majorca.

People Mentioned

  • Gelat

    Más, Juan Marroig
    Juan Marroig Mas, called Gelat: Landowner on Deyá and friend of Robert Graves and Laura Riding (L.R. & R.G.'s factotum. W.G.)

  • Laura

    Riding, Laura
    (1901-91) American poet. Laura Riding (née Reichenthal; then Laura Gottschalk).

  • Liddell Hart

    Liddell Hart, Capt. Basil
    War-fare expert and friend of T.E. Lawrence. Collaborated with RG on a book of T.E.L'.s letters, published in 1938. See RPG p.231. WG & Eds.

  • Richards

    Richards, Frank
    Author of Old Soldiers Never Die and Old Soldier Sahib which R.G. rewrote for him. Was in The Royal Welch Fusiliers, R.G.'s regiment. eds.; Birth name is Francis Phillip Woodruff eds. see Diary September 27, 1936

  • Honor

    Wyatt, Honor
    Journalist. Arrived in Deyá fortuitously. Married to Gordon Glover...Son Julian. W.G. First acquainted with R.G. and L.R. early in 1934; returned to visit in 1935; continued friendship in England. eds (RPG 211).

  • Juan

    Mas, Juan Marroig
    Usually refers to Gelat's son, sometimes to Gelat himself. WG

  • Alan

    Hodge, Alan
    Oxford history graduate. Became close friends with LR & RG. First husband of Beryl Graves. CP & WG

  • Swartz

    Schwarz, Georg
    German Jew. Deyá neighbour. Antique dealer. Lived with Frau Emmy Strenge, his house keeper, in Can Caballo some hundred yards from Canellun. RG and LR translated his "Almost Forgotten Germany." WG

  • Madora

    Marroig Más, Madora
    Gelat's wife. W.G. R.G. often spells her first name "Medora," and precedes it with "the." eds.

  • Franciscito

    Vives, Franciscito
    Gelat's grandson W.G. Son of Anita, Gelat's daughter in Rennes. KG

  • Margarita

    Margarita (chambermaid)
    Chambermaid from Palma. Worked with Catalina the Cook. WG

  • Strenge

    Strenge, Frau Emmi
    Schwarz's house keeper and ? mistress. WG

  • Rosa

    Rosa
    Dress maker. Also made cushions, seat covers, etc. WG

  • Catalina

    Catalina
    Cook from Palma employed by RG and LR; worked with Margarita, the chambermaid. W.G., eds.

  • Margarita Modista

    Margarita Modista
    Modista: Dress maker (in Deyá). W.G., eds.

  • Anita

    Mas, Anita
    Gelat's daughter-in-law, married to Juan Mas. WG

  • Magdalena Marroig

    Marroig Más, Magdalena
    Gelat's daughter. Later married Marcos Colom. WG

  • Antonia

    Antonia
    Proprietor of the Café Ca'n Pep Moso, opposite the Fabrica. The medico's mistress. WG

  • Maria de sa Font Fresca

    De sa Font Fresca, Maria
    Gelat's mistress (or one of them) C.P. & W.G. Sebastian the gardener's daughter (spells "Fresca" without the final "a"?) K.G.

  • Maria Fidevera

    Fidevera, Maria
    ? the washing woman. Married to Jeronimo. W.G.; daughter Juana K.G.

  • Francisca

    Francisca
    The "Francisca" of "Laura and Francisca." eds. A young resident of Deyá; her mother Francisca Messiana helped out at Canellun. W.G. Also called Francisquita (but so were other Franciscas in the village). Later m. to Miguel Ripoll (see Friedmann 179) eds.

  • Lucie

    Brown, Lucie
    Married artist John Aldridge. eds.

Bibliography

    • Title: Focus I, II, III, IV [newsletter]
    • Editor: Riding, Laura
    • PubPlace: Deyá
    • Publisher: Seizin
    • Date: 1935
    • Title: Old Soldier Sahib
    • Author: Richards, Frank
    • Editor: Graves, Robert
    • PubPlace: London, New York
    • Publisher: Faber & Faber; Harrison Smith & Robert Haas
    • Idno: A44
    • Date: 1936