Sketches New and Old
Gathered by Twain himself in 1875, this collection ranges across the humorous sketches, tall tales, and comic essays that first made his name. It opens with the story that launched his career, the jumping frog of Calaveras County, and moves through spoofs, ghost stories, mock morality tales, and satirical jabs at politicians, journalists, and his own younger self. The pieces are uneven by design, some slight, some sharp, but all carry the drawling voice and deadpan timing that readers loved. Taken together they show the young Mark Twain testing the comic instrument he would later turn to greater ends. Free to download as a PDF or EPUB.
About the Author
Samuel Langhorne Clemens, better known as Mark Twain, was born in 1835 in Florida, Missouri, and grew up in Hannibal on the banks of the Mississippi. Most of his fiction would later draw on that childhood, sometimes directly. He worked as a printer’s apprentice, then…
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Listen to Sketches New and Old Audiobook Free
Listen to Sketches New and Old by Mark Twain free online. The full audiobook (10 hr 34 min, 64 chapters, read by volunteer narrators) streams free on this page.
Sketches New and Old (1875) is a public domain work.
| # | Chapter | Length | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 01 Chapter 1 Preface & My Watch | 8:08 | |
| 2 | Chapter 2 Political Economy | 14:49 | |
| 3 | Chapter 3 The Jumping Frog | 43:08 | |
| 4 | Chapter 4 Journalism In Tennessee | 14:19 | |
| 5 | Chapter 5 The Story of the Bad Little Boy | 7:53 | |
| 6 | Chapter 6 The Story of the Good Little Boy | 10:37 | |
| 7 | Chapter 7 A Couple of Poems by Twain and Moore | 1:50 | |
| 8 | Chapter 8 Niagra | 16:08 | |
| 9 | Chapter 9 Answers to Correspondents | 21:49 | |
| 10 | Chapter 10 To Raise Poultry | 6:17 | |
| 11 | Chapter 11 Experience of the McWilliamses with Membranous Croup | 14:24 | |
| 12 | Chapter 12 My First Literary Venture | 5:29 | |
| 13 | Chapter 13 How the Author was Sold in Newark | 3:45 | |
| 14 | Chapter 14 The Office Bore | 4:57 | |
| 15 | Chapter 15 Johnny Greer | 1:47 | |
| 16 | Chapter 16 The Facts in the Case of the Great Beef Contract | 15:07 | |
| 17 | Chapter 17 The Case of George Fisher | 18:05 | |
| 18 | Chapter 18 Disgraceful Persecution of a Boy | 8:50 | |
| 19 | Chapter 19 The Judge's "Spirited Woman" | 3:31 | |
| 20 | Chapter 20 Information Wanted | 4:44 | |
| 21 | Chapter 21 Some Learned Fables, for Good Old Boys an Girls -Part First | 24:23 | |
| 22 | Chapter 22 Some Learned Fables, for Good Old Boys an Girls -Part Second | 15:40 | |
| 23 | Chapter 23 Some Learned Fables, for Good Old Boys an Girls -Part Third | 10:30 | |
| 24 | Chapter 22 My Late Senatorial Secretaryship | 11:58 | |
| 25 | Chapter 25 A Fashion Item | 2:00 | |
| 26 | Chapter 26 Riley-Newspaper Correspondent | 8:42 | |
| 27 | Chapter 27 A Fine Old Man | 1:28 | |
| 28 | Chapter 28 Science vs. Luck | 6:13 | |
| 29 | Chapter 29 The Late Benjamin Franklin | 7:27 | |
| 30 | Chapter 30 Mr. Bloke's Item | 7:54 | |
| 31 | Chapter 31 A Medieval Romance | 18:16 | |
| 32 | Chapter 32 Petition Concerning Copyright | 2:11 | |
| 33 | Chapter 33 After-Dinner Speech | 6:11 | |
| 34 | Chapter 34 Lionizing Murderers | 10:42 | |
| 35 | Chapter 35 A New Crime | 10:22 | |
| 36 | Chapter 36 A Curious Dream | 23:15 | |
| 37 | Chapter 37 A True Story | 12:14 | |
| 38 | Chapter 38 The Siamese Twins | 9:32 | |
| 39 | Chapter 39 Speech at the Scottish Banquet in London | 8:01 | |
| 40 | Chapter 40 A Ghost Story | 15:50 | |
| 41 | Chapter 41 The Capitoline Venus | 12:17 | |
| 42 | Chapter 42 Speech on Accident Insurance | 4:00 | |
| 43 | Chapter 43 John Chinaman in New York | 3:40 | |
| 44 | Chapter 44 How I Edited an Agricultural Paper | 13:21 | |
| 45 | Chapter 45 The Petrified man | 7:10 | |
| 46 | Chapter 46 My Bloody Masacre | 6:44 | |
| 47 | Chapter 47 The Undertaker's Chat | 5:32 | |
| 48 | Chapter 48 Concerning Chambermaids | 4:50 | |
| 49 | Chapter 49 Aurelia's Unfortunate Young Man | 7:05 | |
| 50 | Chapter 50 "After" Jenkins | 2:26 | |
| 51 | About Barbers | 9:21 | |
| 52 | "Party Cries" in Ireland | 2:39 | |
| 53 | The Facts Concerning the Recent Resignation | 15:59 | |
| 54 | History Repeats Itself | 2:41 | |
| 55 | Honored as a Curiousity | 3:02 | |
| 56 | First Interview With Artemus Ward | 7:55 | |
| 57 | Cannibalism In The Cars | 21:26 | |
| 58 | The Killing of Julius Caesar "Localized" | 11:45 | |
| 59 | The Widow's Protest | 2:17 | |
| 60 | The Scriptural Panoramist | 6:03 | |
| 61 | Curing a Cold | 10:31 | |
| 62 | A Curious Pleasure Excursion | 10:49 | |
| 63 | Running for Governor | 12:02 | |
| 64 | A Mysterious Visit | 11:52 |
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