Life on the Mississippi by Mark Twain — Bibliomancer edition cover
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Nonfiction · 1883

Life on the Mississippi

Mark Twain

Reading time
about 10.5 h
Length
144,975 words · 284 pages
Structure
61 chapters · 1 front-matter section
Language
English
Era
Victorian

Before he was Mark Twain, Samuel Clemens was a cub pilot on the Mississippi, apprenticed to the exacting Horace Bixby, who insisted he memorize the entire river — every snag, bar, and shifting shoal — by day and by night, before he'd be trusted with the wheel. Twain returns to that world twice in this book: first in a vivid account of his training, then decades later as a famous author retracing the river after the Civil War, finding steamboats losing ground to railroads.

First published in 1883 by James R. Osgood and Company, the book grew out of "Old Times on the Mississippi," a series of essays Twain wrote for the Atlantic Monthly in 1875. His pen name itself comes from a leadsman's river cry — "mark twain" — meaning two fathoms of safe water beneath the boat.

Bibliomancer publishes the complete 1883 text exactly as Twain wrote it.

Contents

  1. The ‘Body of the Nation’
  2. Chapter 1 — The River and Its History
  3. Chapter 2 — The River and Its Explorers
  4. Chapter 3 — Frescoes from the Past
  5. Chapter 4 — The Boys’ Ambition
  6. Chapter 5 — I Want to be a Cub-pilot
  7. Chapter 6 — A Cub-pilot’s Experience
  8. Chapter 7 — A Daring Deed
  9. Chapter 8 — Perplexing Lessons
  10. Chapter 9 — Continued Perplexities
  11. Chapter 10 — Completing My Education
  12. Chapter 11 — The River Rises
  13. Chapter 12 — Sounding
  14. Chapter 13 — A Pilot’s Needs
  15. Chapter 14 — Rank and Dignity of Piloting
  16. Chapter 15 — The Pilots’ Monopoly
  17. Chapter 16 — Racing Days
  18. Chapter 17 — Cut-offs and Stephen
  19. Chapter 18 — I Take a Few Extra Lessons
  20. Chapter 19 — Brown and I Exchange Compliments
  21. Chapter 20 — A Catastrophe
  22. Chapter 21 — A Section in My Biography
  23. Chapter 22 — I Return to My Muttons
  24. Chapter 23 — Traveling Incognito
  25. Chapter 24 — My Incognito is Exploded
  26. Chapter 25 — From Cairo to Hickman
  27. Chapter 26 — Under Fire
  28. Chapter 27 — Some Imported Articles
  29. Chapter 28 — Uncle Mumford Unloads
  30. Chapter 29 — A Few Specimen Bricks
  31. Chapter 30 — Sketches by the Way
  32. Chapter 31 — A Thumb-print and What Came of It
  33. Chapter 32 — The Disposal of a Bonanza
  34. Chapter 33 — Refreshments and Ethics
  35. Chapter 34 — Tough Yarns
  36. Chapter 35 — Vicksburg During the Trouble
  37. Chapter 36 — The Professor’s Yarn
  38. Chapter 37 — The End of the ‘Gold Dust’
  39. Chapter 38 — The House Beautiful
  40. Chapter 39 — Manufactures and Miscreants
  41. Chapter 40 — Castles and Culture
  42. Chapter 41 — The Metropolis of the South
  43. Chapter 42 — Hygiene and Sentiment
  44. Chapter 43 — The Art of Inhumation
  45. Chapter 44 — City Sights
  46. Chapter 45 — Southern Sports
  47. Chapter 46 — Enchantments and Enchanters
  48. Chapter 47 — Uncle Remus and Mr. Cable
  49. Chapter 48 — Sugar and Postage
  50. Chapter 49 — Episodes in Pilot Life
  51. Chapter 50 — The ‘Original Jacobs’
  52. Chapter 51 — Reminiscences
  53. Chapter 52 — A Burning Brand
  54. Chapter 53 — My Boyhood’s Home
  55. Chapter 54 — Past and Present
  56. Chapter 55 — A Vendetta and Other Things
  57. Chapter 56 — A Question of Law
  58. Chapter 57 — An Archangel
  59. Chapter 58 — On the Upper River
  60. Chapter 59 — Legends and Scenery
  61. Peboan and Seegwun
  62. Chapter 60 — Speculations and Conclusions
  63. Appendix — Appendix a

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About this edition

The text is free of copyright. This edition was prepared from an authoritative digitisation, processed by Bibliomancer under its own review protocol; every automated correction is recorded in its transformation log. Rights assessed for CA, EU, GB, US.

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About the author

Mark Twain

1835–1910 · Victorian

Mark Twain was the pen name of Samuel Langhorne Clemens (1835–1910), born in Florida, Missouri, and raised in Hannibal on the Mississippi. He was a printer, a river pilot, a prospector and a journalist in Nevada and California before The Celebrated Jumping Frog (1865) and The Innocents Abroad (1869) made his name. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876), Life on the Mississippi (1883), Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884) and A Connecticut Yankee (1889) followed. He lectured around the world to recover from bankruptcy in the 1890s and died in Connecticut.

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