Publisher's Synopsis
Samuel Longhorne Clemens (1835-1910), known by his pen name Mark Twain, was an American writer, humorist, entrepreneur, publisher and lecturer. His best known works include the novels The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876) and its sequel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884), the latter often called "The Great American Novel". Twain was raised in Hannibal, Missouri which later provided the setting for Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn. After an apprenticeship to a printer, contributing articles to his brother's paper, a stint as a riverboat pilot on the Mississippi, and turning his hand to mining, he took up journalism and his humorous story The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County (1865) brought him international recognition. It was not long before his wit and satire, in both prose and speech, earned praise from critics and peers, and he became a friend to presidents, artists, industrialists, and European royalty. His writing and lectures earned him a great deal of money but he invested in ventures which lost most of it and filed for bankruptcy in the wake of his financial setbacks. He did, however, eventually pay back his creditors in full. This collection of seven of Twain's sketches, some of which had previously appeared in the Century and Harper's Magazine, was published in 1892 by Charles L Webster & Co in their Fiction, Fact, and Fancy Series edited by Arthur Stedman. The stories included are: The Private History of a Campaign that Failed, The Invalid's Story, Luck, The Captain's Story, A Curious Experience, Mrs McWilliams and the Lightning, and Meisterschaft.
