THIS book is a record of a pleasure trip. If it were a record of a solemn scientific expedition, it would have about it that gravity, that profundity, and that impressive incomprehensibility which are so proper to works of that kind, and withal so attractive. Yet notwithstanding it is only a record of a picnic, it has a purpose, which is, to suggest to the reader how he would be likely to see Europe and the East if he looked at them with his own eyes instead of the eyes of those who traveled in those countries before him. I make small pretense of showing any one how he ought to look at objects of interest beyond the sea- other books do that, and therefore, even if I were competent to do it, there is no need.
I offer no apologies for any departures from the usual style of travel-writing that may be charged against me- for I think I have seen with impartial eyes, and I am sure I have written at least honestly, whether wisely or not.
The Author.
SAN FRANCISCO.
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Chicago: Mark Twain, "Preface," The Innocents Abroad Original Sources, accessed July 11, 2025, http://originalsources.com/Document.aspx?DocID=TXHJK34ZFD1BZWW.
MLA: Twain, Mark. "Preface." The Innocents Abroad, Original Sources. 11 Jul. 2025. http://originalsources.com/Document.aspx?DocID=TXHJK34ZFD1BZWW.
Harvard: Twain, M, 'Preface' in The Innocents Abroad. Original Sources, retrieved 11 July 2025, from http://originalsources.com/Document.aspx?DocID=TXHJK34ZFD1BZWW.