Samuel L. Clemens [photograph].

Some of the most famous photographs of Samuel Clemens, better known as Mark Twain, were made by New York photographer Napoleon Sarony. No complete record exists of exactly how many negatives Sarony made of Clemens, or how many photo sessions Clemens had with him. There were at least two sessions--a session about 1884 and a second session about November 1893, when Clemens intended to have a photo of himself made for his wife Livy's birthday on November 27. This head-and-shoulders silver gelatin print photograph of Twain at 59 years of age, one of four portraits taken by Sarony in 1893, was used to illustrate an 1896 McClure's article on the author, titled "Portraits of Mark Twain."