Mark Twain - A biography

Samuel Clemens, more widely known with his pen name of Mark Twain is one of the most loved American writers. Twain has published many great American classics such as The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, and The Prince and the Pauper. In total, Twain published more than 30 separate works of literature including Life on the Mississippi, A Tramp Abroad, Extracts from Adam's Diary, and Letters from Earth. He also published books about his adventures and excursions in Mississippi, Asia, Europe and the Mid-East.

Born in Florida, Missouri, on Nov. 30, 1835, and the sixth child of John and Jane Clemens, Samuel Clemens entered the world on the evening of Halley's comet. His family later moved to Hannibal, where Clemens grew up. He had a hard childhood, growing up as the runt of a family that was struggling against poverty. Clemens got into the writing industry when he was sent off to become a printer's apprentice.

The cover of the first edition of Adventures of Hu...

mark twain Category:Mark Twain images

1st edition (publ. C. H. Webb)

There he learned much about writing and publishing his own papers, and for a while, he also had control over his brother's newspaper while he was gone.

Clemens had been full of mischief since he was young. One of his famous schemes was when his mother was punishing him for misbehaving, and he was forced to whitewash a fence. Seeing his friends pass by, about to spend their day having fun, Clemens decided to play a trick on his friends and make it seem like he was whitewashing the fence for fun. His friends saw that he was enjoying himself and wanted to join in, and pretty soon he started charging his friends to take turns whitewashing the fence. Thus, the job was done and Clemens made a profit from his punishment. Clemens recorded this event in his book...