Rare 2.25 x 4 carte-de-visite photo of a youthful Samuel Clemens, by E. P. Kellogg of Hartford, Connecticut, signed at the bottom in pencil, "Yr. friend, Saml. L. Clemens." In fine condition, with a very tiny pinhole toward the top. Clemens is uncommon in signed photos, particularly of this early era.
Clemens moved his family to Hartford in 1873, and began building what is now known as the 'Mark Twain House'—described by Clemens biographer Justin Kaplan as 'part steamboat, part medieval fortress and part cuckoo clock'—at 351 Farmington Avenue, just a few miles away from Edwin P. Kellogg's photography studio. The Clemens family remained in Hartford until 1891, when financial instability forced them to move to Europe.
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