Mark Twain at Age 31 (circa 1866) At 31, Samuel Langhorne Clemens, better known by his pen name Mark Twain, was on the brink of becoming one of America’s greatest literary voices. In 1866, he was working as a journalist and lecturer, known for his sharp wit, adventurous spirit, and growing reputation as a humorist. This was the period when Twain had recently returned from his time in the American West, where he mined, wandered, and wrote about the rough-and-tumble life of frontier towns. His exp

In 1909, inventor Thomas Edison visited the home of author Mark Twain in Redding, Connecticut, where he recorded the only known motion-picture footage of the legendary writer. The short reel shows Twain walking through his garden and sharing a quiet moment with his daughters, Jean and Clara. The footage is silent, but it offers a rare glimpse into the final year of Twain’s life—just months before his death in 1910. Seeing one of America’s greatest literary icons in motion, rather than in still p