Samuel Clemens looks like a man who knows that he will have the last laugh at his peers. Knowing that their great-grandchildren will be the only ones to read his autobiography. It will be finally published this year around November I think, as it was his desire that it not be published until 100 years after his death.

Also, as a side-note, I find incredibly interesting how contemporary his glasses are. Though somewhat mangled, they look like they are right off the rack at at Lenscrafters.

He doesn't look anything like Hal Holbrook.

It is nice to see a great man standing tall in the last year of his life. Besides being a wonderful author he was a beloved statesman and humorist. My first book to read cover to cover was his "Adventures of Tom Sawyer."

Without even knowing him, this photo says "Crusty Character." It just invites you to want to know more about him.

While I realize that Mark Twain spent much of his life in Hartford, one should remember that he was a Missouri Confederate veteran of some two weeks service.

[That shadow is from the M.T. reference that just sailed over your head! - Dave]

I wish he could pay us a visit -- I'd be extremely interested to hear his sage observations on the world of the 21st century.

I'm sure the reports were greatly exaggerated!

Great photo of one one my favorite authors.

Somewhere off camera is Clemens's youngest daughter Jean, age 29, who three days later, on Christmas Eve at her father's Connecticut estate, was found drowned in her bathtub after an epileptic seizure.