About the Author

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 A Tramp Abroad.