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Complete Works of O. Henry, 2 Vols
O. Henry's short stories are well known for their wit, wordplay, warm characterization and clever twist endings. Collected in this collection is a giant anthology of his work.Works of the WestCabbages and KingsThe Four MillionThe Gentle GrafterThe Gift of the MagiOptionsRoads of DestinyRolling StonesStrictly Business More Stories of the Four MillionSixes and SevensThe Trimmed Lamp & Other StoriesThe Voice of the CityWaifs and StraysWhirligigsThe Boy Scouts Book of Stories
1396 pages, Library Binding
Published January 1, 1899
About the author
O. Henry
2,929 books1,909 followersSuch volumes as
Cabbages and Kings
(1904) and
The Four Million
(1906) collect short stories, noted for their often surprising endings, of American writer William Sydney Porter, who used the pen name O. Henry.
His biography shows where he found inspiration for his characters. His era produced their voices and his language.
Mother of three-year-old Porter died from tuberculosis. He left school at fifteen years of age and worked for five years in drugstore of his uncle and then for two years at a Texas sheep ranch.
In 1884, he went to Austin, where he worked in a real estate office and a church choir and spent four years as a draftsman in the general land office. His wife and firstborn died, but daughter Margaret survived him.
He failed to establish a small humorous weekly and afterward worked in poorly-run bank. When its accounts balanced not, people blamed and fired him.
In Houston, he worked for a few years until, ordered to stand trial for embezzlement, he fled to New Orleans and thence Honduras.
Two years later, he returned on account of illness of his wife. Apprehended, Porter served a few months more than three years in a penitentiary in Columbus, Ohio. During his incarceration, he composed ten short stories, including A Blackjack Bargainer , The Enchanted Kiss , and The Duplicity of Hargraves .
In 1899, McClure's published Whistling Dick's Christmas Story and Georgia's Ruling .
In Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, he sent manuscripts to New York editors. In the spring of 1902, Ainslee's Magazine offered him a regular income if he moved to New York.
In less than eight years, he became a bestselling author of collections of short stories. Cabbages and Kings came first in 1904 The Four Million, and The Trimmed Lamp and Heart of the West followed in 1907, and The Voice of the City in 1908, Roads of Destiny and Options in 1909, Strictly Business and Whirligigs in 1910 followed.
Posthumously published collections include The Gentle Grafter about the swindler, Jeff Peters; Rolling Stones , Waifs and Strays , and in 1936, unsigned stories, followed.
People rewarded other persons financially more. A Retrieved Reformation about the safe-cracker Jimmy Valentine got $250; six years later, $500 for dramatic rights, which gave over $100,000 royalties for playwright Paul Armstrong. Many stories have been made into films.
His biography shows where he found inspiration for his characters. His era produced their voices and his language.
Mother of three-year-old Porter died from tuberculosis. He left school at fifteen years of age and worked for five years in drugstore of his uncle and then for two years at a Texas sheep ranch.
In 1884, he went to Austin, where he worked in a real estate office and a church choir and spent four years as a draftsman in the general land office. His wife and firstborn died, but daughter Margaret survived him.
He failed to establish a small humorous weekly and afterward worked in poorly-run bank. When its accounts balanced not, people blamed and fired him.
In Houston, he worked for a few years until, ordered to stand trial for embezzlement, he fled to New Orleans and thence Honduras.
Two years later, he returned on account of illness of his wife. Apprehended, Porter served a few months more than three years in a penitentiary in Columbus, Ohio. During his incarceration, he composed ten short stories, including A Blackjack Bargainer , The Enchanted Kiss , and The Duplicity of Hargraves .
In 1899, McClure's published Whistling Dick's Christmas Story and Georgia's Ruling .
In Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, he sent manuscripts to New York editors. In the spring of 1902, Ainslee's Magazine offered him a regular income if he moved to New York.
In less than eight years, he became a bestselling author of collections of short stories. Cabbages and Kings came first in 1904 The Four Million, and The Trimmed Lamp and Heart of the West followed in 1907, and The Voice of the City in 1908, Roads of Destiny and Options in 1909, Strictly Business and Whirligigs in 1910 followed.
Posthumously published collections include The Gentle Grafter about the swindler, Jeff Peters; Rolling Stones , Waifs and Strays , and in 1936, unsigned stories, followed.
People rewarded other persons financially more. A Retrieved Reformation about the safe-cracker Jimmy Valentine got $250; six years later, $500 for dramatic rights, which gave over $100,000 royalties for playwright Paul Armstrong. Many stories have been made into films.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
April 15, 2010
Ward McAllister, a nineteenth-century attorney and social climber, once said that there were only four hundred people in New York City who really mattered. This is of course ridiculous, but to New York's social elite of the day, of whom McAllister was one, it was accepted as more or less true.
O. Henry's first published collection of stories was titled "The Four Million." After the title page, O. Henry has a note to the reader:
"Not very long ago some one invented the assertion that there were only 'Four Hundred' people in New York City who were really worth noticing. But a wiser man has arisen—the census taker—and his larger estimate of human interest has been preferred in marking out the field of these little stories of the 'Four Million.'"
Needless to say, O. Henry was a writer who was concerned with humanity.
If you want your heartstrings to be tugged, read O. Henry. If you want to read something uplifting or funny or beautiful, read O. Henry. If you want to entertain yourself with a story that reminds us what's really of import in life, read O. Henry. I think you get the picture...
O. Henry is often called the master of the suprise ending. I think that title is true, but it only scratches the surface. To me, he's the master of exposing the human heart, and in a way that isn't depressing. His stories are sweet, but rarely sentimental. Profound, but not highbrow. He was the common man's writer, and even a century after his death his stories still have something for everyone.
If you haven't read the stories of O. Henry, you should get on that. Here are some titles that are good to start out with and will give you a strong impression of his writing:
The Gift of the Magi
A Retrieved Reformation
The Purple Dress
The Ransom of Red Chief
The Marionettes
O. Henry's first published collection of stories was titled "The Four Million." After the title page, O. Henry has a note to the reader:
"Not very long ago some one invented the assertion that there were only 'Four Hundred' people in New York City who were really worth noticing. But a wiser man has arisen—the census taker—and his larger estimate of human interest has been preferred in marking out the field of these little stories of the 'Four Million.'"
Needless to say, O. Henry was a writer who was concerned with humanity.
If you want your heartstrings to be tugged, read O. Henry. If you want to read something uplifting or funny or beautiful, read O. Henry. If you want to entertain yourself with a story that reminds us what's really of import in life, read O. Henry. I think you get the picture...
O. Henry is often called the master of the suprise ending. I think that title is true, but it only scratches the surface. To me, he's the master of exposing the human heart, and in a way that isn't depressing. His stories are sweet, but rarely sentimental. Profound, but not highbrow. He was the common man's writer, and even a century after his death his stories still have something for everyone.
If you haven't read the stories of O. Henry, you should get on that. Here are some titles that are good to start out with and will give you a strong impression of his writing:
The Gift of the Magi
A Retrieved Reformation
The Purple Dress
The Ransom of Red Chief
The Marionettes
December 3, 2016
Wow, 1700 pages. All of his stories here, including some that you never see in his "Best of" collections.
June 1, 2020
I like O henry in the same way i like Mark Twain ('s short stories). Both of them have a capability to provides a landscape of critique without destroying the beauty of their story. I like the way O Henry give a surprise in the ending of his short stories. I imagine that he wrote his short stories without any burden about "teaching society" (well, Mark Twain, and Hemingway, even tell it explicitly), he "just" write and through this "just" the reader can gain more "moral lessons" than they took from the story composed primarily to "teach" from the beginning.
These two volumes hardback book contain the complete O Henry's short stories. Nevertheless, as it commonly happen to "a complete works" there is always one or two work available outside it. That is not a big problem i think, minimally we can call it as the complete works referring to 97% of the works instead of 100%, 😉
These two volumes hardback book contain the complete O Henry's short stories. Nevertheless, as it commonly happen to "a complete works" there is always one or two work available outside it. That is not a big problem i think, minimally we can call it as the complete works referring to 97% of the works instead of 100%, 😉
April 27, 2017
Though many of these are delightful, funny, and entertaining, there are SO many that this is a set of books that will take the average reader a long time to get through, if one doesn't get so tired of the "twist at the end" conceit that one gives up beforehand. A little every night before bed did the trick.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews