The Russian writer Ivan Turgenev wrote in Fathers and Sons in 1862, "One picture shows me at a glance what it takes dozens of pages of a book to explain" (Turgenev 196). Mark Twain was a living testimony to that belief because illustrations were an integral part of Mark Twain's published work. They embellished his stories, informed the reader, and often reflected his However, today's fictional novels rarely include illustrations beyond the cover and endpaper. This lack of illustrations has increasingly become the norm in the world of digital publishing because illustrations often do not translate well to the digital format reasons why illustrations were relevant and necessary for 19th century publishing and why they are less relevant in the era digital I will show that illustrations played an essential role in the success of Mark Twain's books (1) because he was an integral part of them. his writing, giving clarity to his written words; (2) because of the subscription publishing model of his era and (3) because of Twain's reliance on them to describe his characters. However, today's digital and audio publishing market has reduced the impact of illustrations in modern literary works. In Twain's 19th-century era, books were often a work of art as well as a literary treasure. The books I read today on my e-reader or listen to in "Audible" versions - even Twain's books - almost never have the visual impact that Twain's books had in the 19th century. Where did these illustrations come from and why were they so important to Twain's literary work? Over the course of Mark Twain's career, more than 20 different artists/cartoonists were employed to illustrate his books and articles...... middle of paper......Michelson, Bruce. The Printer's Devil: Mark Twain and the American Publishing Revolution. Berkeley: U of California P., 2006. Print.---. “Illustrate roughing.” U of Virginia Library, 2012. Web. May 20, 2014. Works Cited (continued) Rainie, Lee, Kathryn Zickuhr, Kristen Purcell, and Mary Madden "The Rise of E-reading" RSS, April 5, 2012. Web. May 20, 2014. Shatzkin, Michael "Someone please tell me the Survival path for the Illustrated Book Business - The Shatzkin Files." TheIdealog.com/blog/. The Idea Logical Company, 04 August 2012. Web. 05 June 2014.Thompson, John B. Merchants of Culture: The Publishing Business in the Twenty-First Century, New York: Penguin, 2012. Kindle.Turgenev, Ivan Sergeevich Fathers and Sons : the author on the Novel, contemporary reactions, critical essays New York: Norton, 1966. Print.