Albert Paine

Albert Bigelow Paine (July 10, 1861 – April 9, 1937) was an American author and biographer best known for his work with Mark Twain. Paine was a member of the Pulitzer Prize Committee and wrote in several genres, including fiction, humor, and verse.

Paine's house in Xenia.

Paine was born in New Bedford, Massachusetts and was moved to Bentonsport, Iowa when one year old. From early childhood until early adulthood, Paine lived in the village of Xenia in southern Illinois; here he received his schooling. His home in Xenia is still standing. At the age of twenty, he moved to St. Louis, where he trained as a photographer, and became a dealer in photographic supplies in Fort Scott, Kansas. Paine sold out in 1895 to become a full-time writer, moving to New York. He spent most of his life in Europe, including France where he wrote two books about Joan of Arc. This work was so well received in France that he was awarded the title of Chevalier in the Légion d'honneur by the French government.

Paine was married to Dora and had three daughters.

Books about Mark Twain

• Mark Twain: A Biography, 4 volumes (1912)
• The Boy's Life of Mark Twain (1916)
• Mark Twain's Letters, 2 volumes (editor, 1917)
• A Short Life of Mark Twain (1920)
• Mark Twain's Speeches (editor, 1923)

Other biographies

• Th. Nast: His Period And His Pictures (1904)
• Captain Bill McDonald, Texas Ranger: A Story of Frontier Reform (1909)
• Life and Lillian Gish (1932)
• George Fisher Baker, a biography: With illustrations (1938)

Children's books

• The Arkansaw Bear Series
  • The Arkansaw Bear (1898)
  • Elsie and the Arkansaw Bear (1909)
• The Hollow Tree Series (illustrated by J. M. Condé):
  • The Hollow Tree and Deep Woods Book (1898)
  • The Hollow Tree Snowed-In Book (1901)
  • Hollow Tree Nights and Days (1915)
• Other children's books
  • Gobolinks, or Shadow-Pictures for Young and Old （1896)
  • Golden Cat (1934)

Novels

• The Mystery of Evelin Delorme, A Hypnotic Story (1894)
• The Bread Line (1900)
• The Great White Way (1901)

Travel books

• The Van Dwellers: A Strenuous Quest for a Home (1901)
• The Tent Dwellers (1908)
• The Ship Dwellers (1910)
• The Car That Went Abroad (1921)

Other books

• Rhymes by Two Friends with William Allen White (1893)
• A Little Garden Calendar (1905)

• "Mark Twain in His Times Bibliography". Accessed 7 August 2006
• Paine Albert Bigelow (1904). Th. Nast: His Period And His Pictures. New York: The MacMillan Company. Retrieved 2009-07-10.