Most Popular Books by Mark Twain

This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work is in the "public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

This is Mark Twain’s first novel about Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer, and it has become one of the world’s best-loved books. It is a fond reminiscence of life in Hannibal, Missouri, an evocation of Mark Twain’s own boyhood along the banks of the Mississippi during the 1840s. "Most of the adventures recorded in this book really occurred," he tells us. This is a book one never forgets: Tom whitewashing Aunt Polly’s fence, Tom and Huck’s dreadful oath, their cure for warts ("spunk water" and dead cats), Tom’s puppy love for Becky Thatcher, the boys playing "pirate" on Jackson’s Island. This Mark Twain Library text is the only edition since the first (1876) to be based directly on the author’s manuscript and to include all of the "200 rattling pictures" Mark Twain commissioned from one of his favorite illustrators, True W. Williams.

Anthology of poems, short stories, and jokes by various authors including Mark Twain. Compiled by Mark Twain.

I will set down a tale as it was told to me by one who had it of his father, which latter had it of HIS father, this last having in like manner had it of HIS father-and so on, back and still back, three hundred years and more, the fathers transmitting it to the sons and so preserving it. It may be history, it may be only a legend, a tradition. It may have happened, it may not have happened: but it COULD have happened. It may be that the wise and the learned believed it in the old days; it may be that only the unlearned and the simple loved it and credited it

Featuring one of Mark Twain''s most iconic works, ''Life on the Mississippi'' is a memoir of the famous river and its influence on Twain''s life. This edition features an introduction by Charles Dudley Warner, providing valuable historical context to readers. A must-read for fans of Twain''s work and American literature in general. This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work is in the "public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

Samuel Langhorne Clemens was born in 1835 and is far better known by his pen name; Mark Twain. An American author and humorist of the first order he is perhaps most famous for his novels, The Adventures Of Tom Sawyer, written in 1876, and its sequel, The Adventures Of Huckleberry Finn, written in 1885 and often described with that mythic line - "the Great American Novel." Twain grew up in Hannibal, Missouri, which would later provide the backdrop for these great novels. Apprenticed to a printer he also worked as a typesetter but eventually became a master riverboat pilot on the Mississippi River. Later, heading west with his brother, Orion to make his fortune he failed at gold mining and instead turned to journalism and found his true calling as a writer of humorous stories. His wit and humour sparkle from every page, his craft evident with every phase and punctured target. Of course as a master of his craft his observations on people, situations and locations create a fabric of great texture and detail and this reflects across short stories, novels and his travel writings. Twain was born during a visit by Halley''s Comet, and predicted that he would "go out with it" as well. He died the day following the comet''s subsequent return in 1910. Here we present The Innocents Abroad.

Presents the adventures of a boy and his friends growing up in a Mississippi River town in the nineteenth century.

Two boys, one an urchin from London''s filthy lanes, the other a prince born in a lavish palace, unwittingly trade identities. Thus a bedraggled "Prince of Poverty" discovers that his private dreams have all come true - while a pampered Prince of Wales finds himself tossed into a rough-and-tumble world of squalid beggars and villainous thieves. Originally written as a story for children, The Prince and the Pauper is a classic novel for adults as well through its stinging attack on the ageless human folly of attempting to measure true worth by outer appearances.

At once a romantic history of a mighty river, an autobiographical account of Twain''s early steamboat days, and a storehouse of humorous anecdotes and sketches, here is the raw material from which Mark Twain wrote his finest novel, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Hannibal, Missouri, on the banks of the Mississippi River, was host to riverboat travelers from around the world, providing a vigorous and variable atmosphere for the young Samuel Clemens to absorb. Clemens became a riverboat pilot and even chose his pen name-Mark Twain-from a term boatmen would call out signifying water depth at two fathoms, meaning safe clearance for travel. It was from this background that Life on the Mississippi emerged. It is an epochal record of America''s growth, a stirring remembrance of her vanished past. And it earned for its author his first recognition as a serious writer

This eBook features the unabridged text of ‘Roughing It’ from the bestselling edition of ‘The Complete Works of Mark Twain’. Having established their name as the leading publisher of classic literature and art, Delphi Classics produce publications that are individually crafted with superior formatting, while introducing many rare texts for the first time in digital print. The Delphi Classics edition of Twain includes original annotations and illustrations relating to the life and works of the author, as well as individual tables of contents, allowing you to navigate eBooks quickly and easily. eBook features: * The complete unabridged text of ‘Roughing It’ * Beautifully illustrated with images related to Twain’s works * Individual contents table, allowing easy navigation around the eBook * Excellent formatting of the textPlease visit www.delphiclassics.com to learn more about our wide range of titles

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur''s Court is an 1889 novel by American humorist and writer Mark Twain. The book was originally titled A Yankee in King Arthur''s Court. Some early editions are titled A Yankee at the Court of King Arthur. In the book, a Yankee engineer from Connecticut is accidentally transported back in time to the court of King Arthur, where he fools the inhabitants of that time into thinking he is a magician-and soon uses his knowledge of modern technology to become a "magician" in earnest, stunning the English of the Early Middle Ages with such feats as demolitions, fireworks and the shoring up of a holy well. He attempts to modernize the past, but in the end he is unable to prevent the death of Arthur and an interdict against him by the Catholic Church of the time, which grows fearful of his power. Twain wrote the book as a burlesque of Romantic notions of chivalry after being inspired by a dream in which he was a knight himself, and severely inconvenienced by the weight and cumbersome nature of his armo

Hank Morgan, a mechanic at a gun factory, is knocked unconscious and awakens in England in the year 528. He is captured and taken to Camelot, where he is put on exhibit before the knights of King Arthur''s Round Table. He is condemned to death, but remembering having read of an eclipse on the day of his execution, he amazes the court by predicting the eclipse. Later he concocts some crude gunpowder and uses it to blow up Merlin''s tower. It is decided that he is a sorcerer like Merlin, and he is made minister to the ineffectual king. In an effort to bring democratic principles and mechanical knowledge to the kingdom, he strings telephone wire, starts schools, trains mechanics, and teaches journalism. He also falls in love and marries. But when Hank tries to better the lot of the peasants, he meets opposition from many quarters, including the knights, the church, Merlin, and the sorceress Morgan le Fay. He and Arthur, in disguise, travel among the miserable common folk, are taken captive and sold as slaves, and only at the last second are rescued by 500 knights on bicycles. Hank and his family briefly retire to the seaside. When they return they find the kingdom engulfed in civil war, Arthur killed, and Hank''s innovations abandoned. Hank is wounded, and Merlin, pretending to nurse him, casts a spell that puts him to sleep until the 19th century.

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur''s Court is an 1889 novel by American humorist and writer Mark Twain. The book was originally titled A Yankee in King Arthur''s Court. Some early editions are titled A Yankee at the Court of King Arthur. In the book, a Yankee engineer from Connecticut is accidentally transported back in time to the court of King Arthur, where he fools the inhabitants of that time into thinking that he is a magician, and soon uses his knowledge of modern technology to become a "magician" in earnest, stunning the English of the Early Middle Ages with such feats as demolitions, fireworks, and the shoring up of a holy well. He attempts to modernize the past, but in the end he is unable to prevent the death of Arthur and an interdict against him by the Catholic Church of the time, which grows fearful of his power.

First published in 1884, Mark Twain''s "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" is a masterpiece of world literature. Narrated by Huck himself in his artless vernacular, it tells of his voyage down the Mississippi with a runaway slave named Jim. As the two journeys downstream on a raft, Huck''s vivid descriptions capture the sights, smells, sounds, and rhythms of life on the great river. As they encounter traveling actors, con men, lynch mobs, thieves, and Southern gentility, his shrewd comments reveal the dark side of human nature. By the end of the story, Huck has learned about the dignity and worth of human life and Twain has exposed the moral blindness of the "respectable" slave-holding society in which he lives. Huckleberry Finn was Twain''s greatest creation.

Mark Twain''s characters are surprising, unforgettable and truly human. The character Huckleberry Finn is based on one of Twain''s childhood friends. Twain writes "In Huckleberry Finn I have drawn Tom Blankenship exactly as he was. He was ignorant, unwashed, insufficiently fed; but he had as good a heart as ever any boy had. His liberties were totally unrestricted. He was the only really independent person-boy or man-in the community, and by consequence he was tranquilly and continuously happy and envied by the rest of us. And as his society was forbidden us by our parents, the prohibition trebled and quadrupled its value, and therefore we sought and got more of his society than any other boy''s." It is little surprise then that children are perennially drawn to Huck and his adventures. The dialogue faithfully reproduces the common speech of his day. Twain explains, "In this book a number of dialects are used, to wit: the Missouri negro dialect; the extremest form of the backwoods Southwestern dialect; the ordinary ''Pike County'' dialect; and four modified varieties of this last. The shadings have not been done in a haphazard fashion, or by guesswork; but painstakingly, and with the trustworthy guidance and support of personal familiarity with these several forms of speech." The plot combines adventure, suspense and mischief with the darker side of humanity: murder, deceit, brutality and racial prejudice. It is a great adventure story and much more, enlivened by Twain''s trademark humor and observations of human nature.

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur''s Court illustrated Mark Twain - One of the greatest satires in American literature, Mark Twain''s ''A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur''s Court'' begins when Hank Morgan, a skilled mechanic in a nineteenth-century New England arms factory, is struck on the head during a quarrel and awakens to find himself among the knights and magicians of King Arthur''s Camelot. The ''Yankee'' vows brashly to "boss the whole country inside of three weeks" and embarks on an ambitious plan to modernize Camelot with 19th c. industrial inventions like electricity and gunfire. It isn''t long before all hell breaks loose! Written in 1889, Mark ''A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur''s Court'' is one of literature''s first genre mash-ups and one of the first works to feature time travel. It is one of the best known Twain stories, and also one of his most unique. Twain uses the work to launch a social commentary on contemporary society, a thinly veiled critique of the contemporary times despite the Old World setting. While the dark pessimism that would fully blossom in Twain''s later works can be discerned in ''A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur''s Court, '' the novel will nevertheless be remembered primarily for its wild leaps of imagination, brilliant wit, and entertaining storytelling.

Tom Sawyer is a mischievous young boy with an undying hunger for adventure, and a knack for getting into trouble. He lives with his Aunt Polly in the Mississippi River town of St Petersburg, Missouri. He plays hooky from school; hangs around with Huck Finn, the unsophisticated son of the village drunkard; and deceives his friends into trading their treasures with him.

First published in 1884, Mark Twain''s "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" is a masterpiece of world literature. Narrated by Huck himself in his artless vernacular, it tells of his voyage down the Mississippi with a runaway slave named Jim. As the two journey downstream on a raft, Huck''s vivid descriptions capture the sights, smells, sounds, and rhythms of life on the great river. As they encounter traveling actors, con men, lynch mobs, thieves, and Southern gentility, his shrewd comments reveal the dark side of human nature. By the end of the story, Huck has learned about the dignity and worth of human life and Twain has exposed the moral blindness of the "respectable" slave-holding society in which he lives. Huckleberry Finn was Twain''s greatest creation.

At once a romantic history of a mighty river, an autobiographical account of Twain''s early steamboat days, and a storehouse of humorous anecdotes and sketches, here is the raw material from which Mark Twain wrote his finest novel, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Hannibal, Missouri, on the banks of the Mississippi River, was host to riverboat travelers from around the world, providing a vigorous and variable atmosphere for the young Samuel Clemens to absorb. Clemens became a riverboat pilot and even chose his pen name--Mark Twain--from a term boatmen would call out signifying water depth at two fathoms, meaning safe clearance for travel. It was from this background that Life on the Mississippi emerged. It is an epochal record of America''s growth, a stirring remembrance of her vanished past. And it earned for its author his first recognition as a serious writer

Tom Sawyer is a mischievous young boy with an undying hunger for adventure, and a knack for getting into trouble. He lives with his Aunt Polly in the Mississippi River town of St Petersburg, Missouri. He plays hooky from school; hangs around with Huck Finn, the unsophisticated son of the village drunkard; and deceives his friends into trading their treasures with him. Tom falls in love with Becky Thatcher, a new arrival in town, who returns his affection initially, and even agrees to an ''engagement''. However, after a slip of the tongue from Tom, she walks off in a huff. From innocent and imaginary adventures, Tom''s life suddenly takes a new turn. One night, while Tom and Huck Finn are in a graveyard, they witness an incident they should not have. Terrified, they flee from the spot, and swear a blood oath that they will never reveal their secret to anyone. Tom and Huck then find themselves entangled in a series of real and exciting adventures, with dangerous men constantly at their heels. Can the boys stand up to the occasion, and become real-life heroes? Will they ever be able to reclaim their normal, carefree lives again?

Tom Sawyer is a mischievous young boy with an undying hunger for adventure, and a knack for getting into trouble. He lives with his Aunt Polly in the Mississippi River town of St Petersburg, Missouri. He plays hooky from school; hangs around with Huck Finn, the unsophisticated son of the village drunkard; and deceives his friends into trading their treasures with him. Tom falls in love with Becky Thatcher, a new arrival in town, who returns his affection initially, and even agrees to an ''engagement''. However, after a slip of the tongue from Tom, she walks off in a huff. From innocent and imaginary adventures, Tom''s life suddenly takes a new turn. One night, while Tom and Huck Finn are in a graveyard, they witness an incident they should not have. Terrified, they flee from the spot, and swear a blood oath that they will never reveal their secret to anyone.

First published in 1884, Mark Twain''s "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" is a masterpiece of world literature. Narrated by Huck himself in his artless vernacular, it tells of his voyage down the Mississippi with a runaway slave named Jim. As the two journey downstream on a raft, Huck''s vivid descriptions capture the sights, smells, sounds, and rhythms of life on the great river. As they encounter traveling actors, con men, lynch mobs, thieves, and Southern gentility, his shrewd comments reveal the dark side of human nature. By the end of the story, Huck has learned about the dignity and worth of human life and Twain has exposed the moral blindness of the "respectable" slave-holding society in which he lives. Huckleberry Finn was Twain''s greatest creation.

First published in 1884, Mark Twain''s "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" is a masterpiece of world literature. Narrated by Huck himself in his artless vernacular, it tells of his voyage down the Mississippi with a runaway slave named Jim. As the two journey downstream on a raft, Huck''s vivid descriptions capture the sights, smells, sounds, and rhythms of life on the great river.

Tom Sawyer is a mischievous young boy with an undying hunger for adventure, and a knack for getting into trouble. He lives with his Aunt Polly in the Mississippi River town of St Petersburg, Missouri. He plays hooky from school; hangs around with Huck Finn, the unsophisticated son of the village drunkard; and deceives his friends into trading their treasures with him. Tom falls in love with Becky Thatcher, a new arrival in town, who returns his affection initially, and even agrees to an ''engagement''. However, after a slip of the tongue from Tom, she walks off in a huff. From innocent and imaginary adventures, Tom''s life suddenly takes a new turn. One night, while Tom and Huck Finn are in a graveyard, they witness an incident they should not have. Terrified, they flee from the spot, and swear a blood oath that they will never reveal their secret to anyone. Tom and Huck then find themselves entangled in a series of real and exciting adventures, with dangerous men constantly at their heels. Can the boys stand up to the occasion, and become real-life heroes? Will they ever be able to reclaim their normal, carefree lives again?

Tom Sawyer is a mischievous young boy with an undying hunger for adventure, and a knack for getting into trouble. He lives with his Aunt Polly in the Mississippi River town of St Petersburg, Missouri. He plays hooky from school; hangs around with Huck Finn, the unsophisticated son of the village drunkard; and deceives his friends into trading their treasures with him. Tom falls in love with Becky Thatcher, a new arrival in town, who returns his affection initially, and even agrees to an ''engagement''. However, after a slip of the tongue from Tom, she walks off in a huff. From innocent and imaginary adventures, Tom''s life suddenly takes a new turn. One night, while Tom and Huck Finn are in a graveyard, they witness an incident they should not have. Terrified, they flee from the spot, and swear a blood oath that they will never reveal their secret to anyone. Tom and Huck then find themselves entangled in a series of real and exciting adventures, with dangerous men constantly at their heels. Can the boys stand up to the occasion, and become real-life heroes? Will they ever be able to reclaim their normal, carefree lives again?