This comic narrative is based on Mark Twain's six years of "variegated vagabondising" in the American West at the height of silver-mining fever.

The text reprinted here is identical with that first published in 1993 in the California Press "Works of Mark Twain", approved by the Centre for Scholarly Editions and awarded the 1993-94 Modern Language Association Prize for a Distinguished Scholarly Edition.

It includes all of the original illustrations. Mark Twain's narrative has been expertly annotated to supply the essential historical context (technical apparatus and the introduction are available only in the "Works" volume).

This is certain to be the standard edition of "Roughing It" for scholars, students, and general readers.