Mark Twain's (Burlesque) Autobiography and First Romance is a short volume, published by Sheldon in 1871, is Mark Twain

Mark Twain

Samuel Langhorne Clemens , better known by his pen name Mark Twain, was an American author and humorist...

's third book. It consists of two stories - First Romance, which had originally appeared in The Express in 1870, and A Burlesque Autobiography (bearing no relationship to Twain's actual life), which first appeared in Twain's http://www.twainquotes.com/Galaxy/gindex.html Memoranda contributions] to The Galaxy. Rather, the content consists of a few short stories of fictional characters who are supposedly part of Twain's lineage. In the final passage, Twain develops the story to a point of crisis, and then abruptly ends the tale, saying:
With that, Twain's "Autobiography" ends.

The illustrations form an interesting aspect of this book. They have no relationship to the text of the book. Rather, they use cartoons illustrating the children's poem The House that Jack Built to lampoon the Erie Railroad

Erie Railroad

The Erie Railroad was a railroad that operated in New York State, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois, originally connecting New York City with Lake Erie...

 Ring (the house) and its participants, Jay Gould

Jay Gould

Jason "Jay" Gould was a leading American railroad developer and speculator. He has long been vilified as an archetypal robber baron, whose successes made him the ninth richest American in history. Condé Nast Portfolio ranked Gould as the 8th worst American CEO of all time...

, John T. Hoffman

John T. Hoffman

John Thompson Hoffman was the 23rd Governor of New York . He was also Recorder of New York City and Mayor of New York City...

, and Jim Fisk

James Fisk (financier)

James Fisk, Jr. —known variously as "Big Jim," "Diamond Jim," and "Jubilee Jim"—was an American stock broker and corporate executive.-Early life and career:...

.

The book was not one of Twain's personal favorites. Two years after publication, he bought all of the printing plates of the book and destroyed them.

eBook

• Full Text of Mark Twain's Burlesque Autobiography at Mark Twain Classics