11 - Mark Twain; his life and work. A biographical sketch by William M. Clemens

Delve into the intriguing life of Mark Twain through the eyes of Will Clemens, who, despite not being related to the famed author, became an acquaintance and penned what may be the first comprehensive biography of Twain. Published on July 1, 1892, as No. 1 in The Pacific Library, this 200-page work was available for just 25¢ and garnered enough attention to be republished in 1894 by a Chicago publisher. In this insightful sketch, Clemens draws heavily on previously published works by other authors, offering a unique perspective on Twains literary legacy. (summary by John Greenman)

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is chapter eleven of Mark Twain, His Life and Work,
a biographical sketch by William M. Clemens. This LibriVox recording
is in the public domain. Chapter eleven As a business Man,
read by John Greenman. A million copies of Mark Twain's
books have been sold in this country. England and her

(00:22):
colonies have taken half as many more, and the larger
works have been translated into German, French, Italian, Norwegian and Danish.
Innocence Abroad roughing it. The Gilded Age and A Tramp
Abroad were published by the American Publishing Company of Hartford.
The Stolen White Elephant appeared from the presses of Osgoode

(00:45):
of Boston. The humorist has often said that if he
were to live his life over again, he would publish
his own books and act as his own business manager,
thus securing a larger share of the profits arising from
the sale of his works. The manuscript of The Adventures
of Huckleberry Finn was completed in March eighteen eighty four,

(01:07):
but owing to complications and differences with the publishers, it
did not appear until the following year, although a prospectus
of the story was sent out and the opening chapter
published in the Century magazine. When the book was completed,
mister Clemens made a proposition in regard to its publication
to the American Publishing Company. From the sale of his

(01:28):
earlier works, this firm had made for itself reputation and wealth.
Mark Twain, on his side, received royalties amounting in all
to over four hundred thousand dollars. When Huckleberry Finn, the
sequel to Tom Sawyer, was completed, he again made them
a proposition. Negotiations were commenced, but never completed. The parties

(01:51):
could not agree upon terms. He was offered liberal royalties,
but refused to accept them. The final offer was that
the prophet should be equally divided each of the parties
to receive fifty percent of the proceeds from the sale
of the new book. This proposition was not satisfactory to
the author, who wanted sixty percent of the profits. The

(02:13):
company refused to accept the offer, and mister Clemmens determined
to at once combine the business of publisher with that
of author. He had great confidence in the business ability
of his nephew, Charles L. Webster of Fredonio, New York.
With him, he formed a partnership, and Huckleberry Finn appeared
bearing the imprint of Charles L. Webster and Company. The

(02:37):
result was watched with interest by literary men and publishers
all over the world. Huckleberry Finn netted the author a
profit of nearly one hundred thousand dollars. Mister Webster died
a few years since, but the firm name remains unchanged.
Upon his earlier books, Mark received upwards of thirty thousand
dollars per year. For a number of years, Tom Sawyer

(03:01):
sold better than any of his books, Accepting Innocence abroad.
When The Gilded Age was dramatized and placed on the
stage by John T. Raymond, it proved a gold mine
for the fortunate author. In one year, Raymond paid Mark
over seventy thousand dollars in royalties. He never dabbled in
Wall Street stocks, although he knew whether Union Pacific or

(03:24):
Western Union were up or down and why. His most
unfortunate investment was in the stock of an accident insurance company,
where he had invested fifty thousand dollars, but luckily he
saved his money from the wreck. His wife had a
large fortune in her own right, but so far as
Mark Twain was concerned, she might have been penniless, for

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he insisted that her property be settled upon herself and
managed for her interest exclusively. He has made his own
fortune in his own way and has never had to
borrow a cent from any one in his business investment.
Since the Innocence began to coin money for him. The
firm of Charles L. Webster and Company have published many

(04:07):
books in addition to those written by Mark Twain. The
profits in the Memoirs of General Grant and those of
the Pope were enormous. In eighteen eighty four, when he
read from his own works with George W. Cable, his
share of the net profits was thirty thousand dollars. He
invented Mark Twain's scrap Book, which made a fortune for

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the publishers. Nearly a million copies have been sold, and
his profits amount to one hundred thousand dollars. He also
invented a note book. All note books that he could
buy had the vicious habit of opening at the wrong
place and distracting attention in that way. So by a
simple contrivance, he arranged one that always opens at the

(04:50):
right place, that is, of course, at the page last
written upon. Other simple inventions of Mark Twain's include a
vest which enables the wearer to dispense with suspenders, a
shirt with collars and cuffs attached, which requires neither buttons
nor studs, a perpetual calendar watched charm, which gives the

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day of the week and of the month, and a
game whereby people may play historical dates and events upon
a board, somewhat after the manner of cribbage, being a
game whose office is twofold to furnish the dates and
events and to impress them permanently upon the memory. He
is a literary midas everything he has touched has turned

(05:35):
to gold, not from luck, but from hard work, and
with an eye to business. In order to obtain the
Grant Memoirs for publication, he made terms with a Grant
family which other publishers did not dare to make, as
Twain said, they did not appreciate the magnitude of the occasion.

(05:55):
After he had become a business man and a millionaire,
he was elected an honorary member of the Concord, Massachusetts
Free Trade Club, and, in acknowledging the compliment, wrote to
the secretary as follows, it does look as if Massachusetts
were in a fair way to embarrass me with kindnesses

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this year. In the first place, a Massachusetts judge has
just decided in open court that a Boston publisher may
sell not only his own property in a free and
unfettered way, but also may as freely sell property which

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does not belong to him, but to me, property which
he has not bought and which I have not sold.
Under this ruling, I am now advertising that judge's homestead
for sale, and if I make as good a sum

(07:03):
out of it as I expect, I shall go on
and sell out the rest of his property. In the
next place, a committee of the public library of your
town have condemned and excommunicated my last book and doubled

(07:24):
its sale. And finally, the Free Trade Club of Concord
comes forward and adds to the splendid burden of obligations
already conferred upon me by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts an
honorary membership which is worth more than all the rest,

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just at this juncture, since it indorses me as worthy
to associate with certain gentlemen who whom even the moral
icebergs of the Concord Library Committee are bound to respect.
May the Great Commonwealth of Massachusetts endure forever. Is the

(08:15):
heartfelt prayer of one who, long a recipient of her
mere general goodwill, is proud to realize that he is
at last become her pet. Mister Clemens has been so
busily engaged during the later years of his life that

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necessarily his book work and his personal correspondents have suffered.
He failed to answer a letter written by Sergeant Ballantine,
the English author, after waiting a reasonable time. The latter
was so exasperated at not receiving an answer that he
mailed Mark a sheet of paper and a postage stamp
as a gentle reminder. Mister Clemens wrote back on a

(08:58):
postal card, paper and stamp received. Please send envelope to day.
In healthful middle age, Samuel L. Clemens is reaping the
fruits of a long and varied career. He has been
a printer, steamboat pilot, private secretary, minor reporter, lecturer, inventor, author, publisher,

(09:25):
and capitalist. He is one of the few living persons
with a truly world wide reputation, As Miss Gilder has
truthfully and wittily remarked, unless the excellent gentleman engaged in
revising the scriptures should claim the authorship of their work.
There is no other living writer whose books are now

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so widely read as Mark Twain's, and it may not
be out of the way to add that in more
than one pious household, the Innocence Abroad is laid beside
the family Bible and referred to as a handbook of
holy Land. Description and narrative. End of Chapter eleven, read

(10:11):
by John Greenman,