Delphi Complete Works of Owen Wister

by Owen Wister, Delphi Classics (Editor)

The father of Western fiction, Owen Wister helped create the cowboy as a folk hero, establishing the enduring myth of the Wild West, while elevating the western as a legitimate genre of literature. His masterpiece ‘The Virginian’ tells the story of an unnamed cowboy who, despite his hardened exterior, displays civilised values in an uncivilised West. The novel was an immediate bestseller and made Wister a wealthy man. His portrayal of cowboy life is responsible for the romanticized view of the West that has become integral of the American cultural identity. Wister was a gifted author, who produced noticeable works in almost all genes, including a range of fiction, poetry, short stories and non-fiction texts. For the first time in publishing history, this eBook presents Wister’s complete works, with numerous illustrations, many rare texts, informative introductions and the usual Delphi bonus material. (Version 1)

* Beautifully illustrated with images relating to Wister’s life and works
* Concise introductions to the major texts
* All 5 novels, with individual contents tables
* The complete short stories
* Rare story collections available in no other collection
* Features rare tales appearing for the first time in digital publishing, including the original version of ‘Hank’s Woman’, Wister’s first Western
* Images of how the books were first published, giving your eReader a taste of the original texts
* Excellent formatting of the texts
* Famous works are fully illustrated with their original artwork
* Special chronological and alphabetical contents tables for the poetry and the short stories
* Easily locate the poems or short stories you want to read
* Includes Wister’s rare poetry collections – available in no other collection
* Wister’s non-fiction, with rare essays and articles – spend hours exploring the author’s diverse works
* Special ‘Contextual Pieces’ section, with numerous reviews, profiles and articles evaluating Wister’s contribution to American literature
* Ordering of texts into chronological order and genres

Please due to copyright restrictions, the memoir ‘ The Story of a Friendship, 1880-1919’ cannot appear in this edition. When new works enter the public domain, they will be added to the collection as a free update.



The Novels
The Dragon of Wantley (1892)
Lin McLean (1897)
The Virginian (1902)
Lady Baltimore (1906)
Members of the Family (1911)

The Shorter Fiction
The New Swiss Family Robinson (1882)
Hank’s Woman (1892)
Red Men and White (1895)
The Jimmyjohn Boss and Other Stories (1900)
Padre Ignacio (1911)
Sun Road (1924)
Safe in the Arms of Croesus (1927)
When West was West (1928)

The Short Stories
List of Short Stories in Chronological Order
List of Short Stories in Alphabetical Order

The Poetry
Done in the Open (1902)
Indispensable Information for Infants (1921)
Miscellaneous Poems

The Poems
List of Poems in Chronological Order
List of Poems in Alphabetical Order

The Non-Fiction
Where Charity Begins (1895)
Ulysses S. Grant (1901)
Musk-Ox, Bison, Sheep and Goat (1903)
The Seven Ages of Washington (1907)
Theodore Roosevelt (1914)
Reminiscence with Postscript (1915)
The Pentecost of Calamity (1915)
The Evolution of the Cow-Puncher (1915)
Quack-Novels and Democracy (1915)
A Straight Deal (1920)
My Maiden Eff

Kindle Edition

Published June 29, 2025

About the author

Owen Wister was born on July 14, 1860, in Germantown, a neighborhood within the City of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. His father, Owen Jones Wister, was a wealthy physician, one of a long line of Wisters raised at the storied Belfield estate in Germantown. His mother, Sarah Butler Wister, was the daughter of actress Fanny Kemble.
Education
He briefly attended schools in Switzerland and Britain, and later studied at St. Paul's School in Concord, New Hampshire and Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where he was a classmate of Theodore Roosevelt, an editor of the Harvard Lampoon and a member of Delta Kappa Epsilon (Alpha chapter). Wister graduated from Harvard in 1882.
At first he aspired to a career in music, and spent two years studying at a Paris conservatory. Thereafter, he worked briefly in a bank in New York before studying law, having graduated from the Harvard Law School in 1888. Following this, he practiced with a Philadelphia firm, but was never truly interested in that career. He was interested in politics, however, and was a staunch Theodore Roosevelt backer. In the 1930s, he opposed Franklin D. Roosevelt and the New Deal.
Writing career
Wister had spent several summers out in the American West, making his first trip to Wyoming in 1885. Like his friend Teddy Roosevelt, Wister was fascinated with the culture, lore and terrain of the region. On an 1893 visit to Yellowstone, Wister met the western artist Frederic Remington; who remained a lifelong friend. When he started writing, he naturally inclined towards fiction set on the western frontier. Wister's most famous work remains the 1902 novel The Virginian, the loosely constructed story of a cowboy who is a natural aristocrat, set against a highly mythologized version of the Johnson County War and taking the side of the large land owners. This is widely regarded as being the first cowboy novel and was reprinted fourteen times in eight months.[5] The book is dedicated to Theodore Roosevelt.
Personal life
In 1898, Wister married Mary Channing, his cousin.The couple had six children.
Wister's wife died during childbirth in 1913, as Theodore Roosevelt's first wife had died giving birth to Roosevelt's first daughter, Alice.
Wister died at his home in Saunderstown, Rhode Island. He is buried in Laurel Hill Cemetery in Philadelphia.