Albert Bigelow Paine

Born in New Bedford, Massachusetts, in 1861, Albert Bigelow Paine became a prolific American author whose career ranged across fiction, verse, travel writing, and books for young readers. He published widely, and many of his works later circulated through public-domain editions, helping keep his writing in print long after his lifetime.

He is remembered most for his long association with Mark Twain. Paine spent significant time with Twain, wrote the major early biography Mark Twain, A Biography, and later served as Twain's literary executor, which gave him unusual access to the author's papers and personal history.

That closeness made Paine an important figure in preserving Twain's story, even as later scholars have debated some of his editorial choices. He died in 1937 in New Smyrna Beach, Florida, leaving behind a body of work that reflects both his own versatile writing life and his lasting role in American literary history.