Mark Twain: Innovator and Entrepreneur in the American Publishing Revolution (Part 1 of 3)

 

Samuel L. Clemens, better known by his pseudonym Mark Twain, holds a distinguished place in the pantheon of American literature. Beyond his literary genius, Twain was also a prolific inventor, as acknowledged by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. He was granted three U.S. patents during the 19th century, showcasing his inventive spirit. One notable invention was his 1873 self-pasting scrapbook, designed to simplify the process of preserving memories by eliminating the messy preparation of glue. These scrapbooks were not just functional but also whimsically decorated, often featuring a cherub humorously tipping over a glue pot.

Remembered as an American pioneer, Twain is celebrated not only for his contributions to literature but also for his keen exploration of societal and political identities and the deep introspections of self. Despite his fame, only a few recent commentaries have touched upon his fascination with technology—specifically his interest in large, fast machines and the potential of automated production, both within the realm of publishing and beyond. Twain's forward-thinking approach to technology and literature solidifies his status as a true innovator of his time.

When we explore the more technological aspects of Mark Twain's career—his ventures into automated typesetting, the formation of the American Publishing Company, his own Charles L. Webster & Company (WebsterCo), collaborations with Harpers, and inventions like Kaolatype, steam pulleys, bed sheet clamps, and cash registers—the narrative often adopts a somber tone. Critics lament that perhaps Twain should have focused solely on his writing, steering clear of the intricate machinery, the disputes over rights and patents, and his ambitious, sometimes overly optimistic publishing ventures aimed at dominating the market. They suggest he should have left these complexities to his partners and subordinates.

However, Samuel Clemens' deep engagement with the hardware and possibilities of print media provides a valuable model for modern authors. His approach underscores the importance of being proactive with emerging technologies. In today's context, this translates into understanding and leveraging digital publishing tools and platforms as well as artificial intelligence to manage and distribute literary content. 

Trained as a printer before he ventured into anything else professionally, Clemens was intimately involved with the logistics and potential of printing and publishing throughout his career. He took an active role in nearly every aspect of designing, producing, and selling books, newspapers, and national magazines. This involvement paints a picture of Clemens not just as one of the most celebrated authors of his era but also as a pioneer and advocate for innovation.

I. Revolution in Print: The Technological Transformation of 19th Century Publishing in St. Louis

At the close of the 1840s in the American heartland, the humble printing office of a county newspaper was a bustling hub of strenuous labor and mechanical decay. It was a place that echoed the early, preindustrial age of American printing, with equipment and methods that would have been familiar to pioneers like Benjamin Franklin and Peter Zenger.

As Sam Clemens mastered his first trade in Hannibal, Missouri, the print media landscape was undergoing a dramatic transformation in nearby urban centers. Just ninety miles south in St. Louis, newspapers produced daily editions in the tens of thousands using massive steam-powered presses, automatic sheet feeders, and high-speed cutting and folding machines. By December 1847, these newsrooms tapped into a burgeoning telegraph network linking them with Chicago, New Orleans, and the East Coast.

Meanwhile, the American railroad network was rapidly expanding. By 1850, it interconnected major cities in New England and the Mid-Atlantic, extending from Cincinnati through Vincennes, Indiana, to the bustling docklands of Illinoistown—now known as East St. Louis—across the Mississippi River.

Close to St. Louis’s printing district, the nation's second busiest port processed hundreds of steamboats monthly, serving as a pivotal node in the world's longest navigable river system and distributing a wide array of manufactured goods, including print materials. By 1854, St. Louis had established its own type foundry, capable of equipping a newspaper operation in a day, and hosted numerous lithographic, printing, and engraving establishments, book binderies, and job offices. The city also saw the opening of the first stereotype plant west of the Mississippi on Locust Street near the harbor in 1853, with another soon after in the now-lost Republican Alley, named after the city’s most influential journal. This dynamic period marked a significant evolution in printing and distribution, setting the stage for the modern publishing industry.

When Sam Clemens posed for his first daguerreotype, the "Great Revolution in Publishing" was already a well-established force driving economic growth in many of America's larger cities. Yet, in Hannibal, Missouri, the thrice-weekly arrival of a steamboat still paralyzed the town. Lacking nearby telegraph lines, local printers depended entirely on human labor and traditional tools like the Washington double medium hand press. The idea of linking Hannibal by railroad to other cities remained a subject of civic discussion and hopeful speculation.

Despite the absence of high-volume printing technology and modern communications in Marion County, the effects of the publishing revolution were overwhelmingly evident. Bundles of inexpensive books from New York, Boston, Philadelphia, and Cincinnati piled up at the landings and the post office. Lavishly illustrated mass-market national monthlies and extensive city newspapers, fresh off the presses from factories hundreds of miles east, boasted up-to-the-minute "telegraph intelligence." 

Amidst this transformative era, the young Sam Clemens was learning printing as a traditional craft. Every day at work, he witnessed firsthand an upheaval that redefined the power and reach of printed words and images, a change so profound it had been unimaginable just at the time of his birth.

II. Riding the Storm: Mark Twain's Adventures in the American Publishing Revolution

Bruce Michelson's study, Printer's Devil, delves into Mark Twain's deep engagement with the American publishing revolution—a seismic shift that began in his childhood and continued to captivate him throughout his life as a reporter, storyteller, traveling entertainer, author, entrepreneur, and international celebrity. This journey, as Michelson portrays, is one of the great sagas of the American industrial age, featuring a boy from a technological backwater who surfs the crest of a relentless innovation typhoon—only to nearly be overwhelmed by it later in life.

Twain's critics and scholars have consistently hailed him as a pioneering innovator of the English language, particularly noting his creation of the vernacular persona in Huckleberry Finn. Huck Finn's voice stands as a monumental achievement in American fiction. Yet Twain's literary dynamism was significantly fueled by his response to the tumultuous, expansive transformation sweeping through the publishing industry of his era.

Despite his keenness for innovation, Twain's ventures were not devoid of shortcomings. His financial downfall was littered with a series of missteps and disasters. Among these were a "Memory Builder" game intended for daily newspapers, a direct current electric motor, a lavishly illustrated subscription book priced at an astronomical thousand dollars per copy, and the Library of American Literature—a compilation more comprehensive and expensive than any previous American publishing anthology.

One of the most infamous of these failures was the Paige Compositor—an invention that promised much but delivered little. We will delve deeper into the story of the Paige Machine in our next post.