Self-Pasting Scrapbook

As a man constantly in the press, Twain took up scrapbooking to organize his press clippings. In 1872 he patented his personal improvement to scrapbooking – a self-pasting book! It was marketed as “Mark Twain’s Patent Scrapbook” and Twain designed pamphlets to advertise it. Here are two pages pulled from the pamphlet, explaining the various styles that the self-pasting pages could take. Twain even included a handwritten “certificate” stating the healing properties of the scrapbook: “as soon as I had invented my Self-Pasting Scrap Book + begun to use it in my own family, all these infirmities disappeared.”
Interestingly enough, according to an item in The St. Louis Post-Dispatch (8 June 1885), Twain had made $200,000 from all his other books, and $50,000 from the scrapbook alone, making this wordless book his most lucrative.

Adjustable Strap for Clothing 

In 1871 Twain applied for his first patent, for an adjustable strap to tighten clothing. This strap would also be elastic and detachable, so it could be used on not only vests, but pants and ladies’ corsets. At the time of application, someone else had submitted an identical invention for a patent, and Twain had to prove that he was the original inventor by filling out a preliminary statement in a form. In true Twain style though, he wrote an elaborate short story detailing the timeline of his invention. Eventually he was granted the patent based on the earlier date on his application form.

Memory Game

Twain conceived of this invention as a way to help his daughters remember historical dates. He developed a memory-building game that made learning historical dates entertaining and patented the invention in 1885. Along with the game board (the instructions were printed on the back) it came with a small pamphlet of historical facts and a packet of straight pins, half of them painted black. Twain notes in the instructions that this is a great game to be played on one’s own, especially compared to card games. “But I find these Dates a very good solitaire game indeed. You can add nothing new to your card game, but you can freshen up the date-fight with new dates every day.”