The American author and humorist, Samuel Langhorne Clemens better known by his pen name Mark Twain, was yet another famous personality who had to file for bankruptcy – a fact little known by majority of the Americans.

 Twain filed for bankruptcy in 1894 following failed business. As he did not like his current publisher he decided to publish his work himself.  He put all his money to put up a publishing house along with his nieces’ husband, Charles L. Webster.  Twain also invested large sums in James Paige’s Paige Compositor, an automatic typesetting machine not yet perfected, but promised to be so in a very short period of time.  However, the deal fell through when James Paige failed to deliver his typesetting machine on time.  Twain was forced to file bankruptcy after running out of money to fund the machine and keep his publishing business open.

  Twain overcame his financial troubles before long and wrote a string of successful novels such as Pudd’nhead Wilson and Following the Equator. Even though his bankruptcy had relieved him of the legal responsibility he worked hard to ensure that all of his creditors were paid in full.