This is the official guide to The Mark Twain House & Museum, an institution dedicated to preserving the author's home, literary legacy, and life story. Author Steve Courtney, the organization's Publicist and Publications Editor, conducts a journey back to the Gilded Age, when the celebrated author and humorist was known as Mr. Samuel Clemens of Hartford, Connecticut. Readers can venture inside "the loveliest home that ever was" for an illustrated tour that offers intimate glimpses of the writer, his wife, and their daughters within their Victorian mansion.
Abundantly illustrated with architectural drawings and period photos, this volume also features dozens of recent color images. Built in the American Gothic tradition, the richly appointed house features the decorative work of Louis Comfort Tiffany and contains many souvenirs of family trips to Europe. During the seventeen years that he lived in the Hartford home, Sam Clemens completed The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876) and Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884), along with The Prince and the Pauper (1881) and A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court (1889), in addition to countless lectures, magazine pieces, and stories improvised for the children's delight. The narrative traces the house's history beyond the Clemens family's residence, from its 1903 sale to its current status as a lovingly preserved and restored National Historic Landmark.