What do you think?
Rate this book
The Gift of the Magi
"Gift of the Magi" by O. Henry, originally published in 1906, has become one of the best known and most beloved of Chistmas tales. An exuberant couple urged on by their love, make great sacrifices in order to purchase the perfect Christmas gift for the other. The husband sells his gold watch in order to buy expensive combs for his wife's luxurious locks. While the wife sells her hair to the wigmaker in order to buy a chain suitable for her husband's handsome timepiece. When all is revealed on Christmas Eve, the sweet irony of their dual generosity leaves them, whether they know it or not, as the wisest of gift "But in a last word to the wise of these days let it be said that of all who give gifts these two were the wisest. O all who give and receive gifts, such as they are wisest. Everywhere they are wisest. They are the magi." The artist Joel Priddy employs the same twists of reciprocity in his own work and is well suited to adapting and updating this classic for a modern audience.
96 pages, Hardcover
Published November 3, 2009
About the author
O. Henry
2,927 books1,955 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.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 31 reviews
June 5, 2024
Surely the best of O Henry.this is absolutely masterpiece
December 9, 2010
My favorite Christmas story, well-suited to the graphic novel. The illustrations, despite being in period garb, gave youth and vigor to the characters and made the book especially appealing to the Young Adult reader. While my favorite re-telling remains Bert and Ernie's Gift of the Magi (Ernie trades rubber ducky for a box for Bert's paperclip collection, Bert trades the collection for a soap dish for ducky, ending with dear Mr. Hooper gifting both Bert and Ernie their treasured possessions) I think I'd put this version my 2nd favorite.
March 14, 2020
One of my favorite classic books. This one in graphic novel form. I loved the illustrations, they were just beautiful. And, of course, the story is so good.
December 30, 2021
As ever, an inspiring short story that shows the meaning of love's best gift.
September 7, 2023
I knew this story for a while but reading it was so much better.
This story shows that it doesn’t matter the cost or the money put to it, what matters is that you do with with a good intentions. And sometimes you have to give up things you love to make others happy.
But at the end is worth it.
This story shows that it doesn’t matter the cost or the money put to it, what matters is that you do with with a good intentions. And sometimes you have to give up things you love to make others happy.
But at the end is worth it.
January 6, 2024
I read the story to my eighth grade students, and we discuss sacrifice and love. It was interesting to hear what items they thought Jim and Della would buy for each other in 2023.
December 27, 2024
A short story with a lovely plot twist
January 8, 2025
Clever format
March 10, 2026
One of the greatest stories ever written about altruistic love and the willingness to sacrifice for a beloved person. Read this tale!!!!!!!!!!!!! Kristi & Abby Tabby
December 10, 2020
The story of The Gift of the Magi is one of my all-time favorites. It's by a fellow native North Carolinian in writer O. Henry. And I adore the twist of having two lovers giving up their prized possessions in order to buy something special for the other.
My all-time favorite version of this story is from Sesame Street in which Bert and Ernie trade favorite items of theirs to Mr. Hooper in order to get a gift for their BFFs. I am happy to say that this edition didn't really do anything to remove that PBS friendly tale from the top spot.
The artwork was simple. It wasn't bad. But it did very little to invoke the holidays to me. Joel Priddy draws the story in it's original Victorian Era style setting. But this is the first time I've ever seen the household of the two lovers without 1 single Christmas decoration. Not one bough of holly. Not 1 single tree or sprig of mistletoe. In fact, if not for an opening scene of the wise men in some sort of decoration, you might not really know that this story was set during Christmas.
The translation or adaptation, which I think is more appropriate, also seems a little foreign to me. I've read O. Henry's account. This just didn't seem familiar. This version seems to deal too much with finances and not the quest to find an ideal present for a soul mate. Plus, the husband is hardly in this story. It seems only from the wife's perspective and what has always appealed to me about this story was the parity.
Other accounts of The Gift of the Magi seems to have a near 50/50 ratio of story spent on the wife and the husband. Here, it's like 90% wife and maybe 10% husband. And his appearance is only in Act 3. The balance of storytelling is off from what I expect it to be and that odd pacing was what threw things off for me big time!
I did enjoy reading this book. But the near 365 days of expectation of waiting to read this book was outweighed by how little this version played out to those expectations in reality.
A good book. Just not the best version of a personal holiday favorite.
My all-time favorite version of this story is from Sesame Street in which Bert and Ernie trade favorite items of theirs to Mr. Hooper in order to get a gift for their BFFs. I am happy to say that this edition didn't really do anything to remove that PBS friendly tale from the top spot.
The artwork was simple. It wasn't bad. But it did very little to invoke the holidays to me. Joel Priddy draws the story in it's original Victorian Era style setting. But this is the first time I've ever seen the household of the two lovers without 1 single Christmas decoration. Not one bough of holly. Not 1 single tree or sprig of mistletoe. In fact, if not for an opening scene of the wise men in some sort of decoration, you might not really know that this story was set during Christmas.
The translation or adaptation, which I think is more appropriate, also seems a little foreign to me. I've read O. Henry's account. This just didn't seem familiar. This version seems to deal too much with finances and not the quest to find an ideal present for a soul mate. Plus, the husband is hardly in this story. It seems only from the wife's perspective and what has always appealed to me about this story was the parity.
Other accounts of The Gift of the Magi seems to have a near 50/50 ratio of story spent on the wife and the husband. Here, it's like 90% wife and maybe 10% husband. And his appearance is only in Act 3. The balance of storytelling is off from what I expect it to be and that odd pacing was what threw things off for me big time!
I did enjoy reading this book. But the near 365 days of expectation of waiting to read this book was outweighed by how little this version played out to those expectations in reality.
A good book. Just not the best version of a personal holiday favorite.
November 14, 2009
The truly classic "The Gift of the Magi" by O. Henry gets a retelling by Joel Priddy. The story of a young couple selling their prized possessions to purchase each other a gift is well known to most through a variety of adaptations. Priddy also keeps the colors simple, mainly black and white although at times with a bluish tint, that is until Della's legendary hair is revealed. From a black and white bun comes a wave of orange which cannot be contained in even two pages and only disappears slowly as the hair goes back into hiding. The impact is immediate and successful in its attempt to portray the beauty of the hair to the reader. He keeps very close to the story itself, omitting just a few lines which he can easily show, and he moves the story along at the leisurely pace in which it was written. Many pages contain no text as Priddy gives us a glimpse into the couple's private life which he plays out at times with full pages, at times with panels, and often a mix of arrangements. The book opens with several pages setting the scene without text as we see a store window version of the magi give way to the snow and our story; as the story ends he takes away from the domestic life and out into the stars as O. Henry's text puts the story in perspective. Priddy's adaptation rescues the story from the numerous sentimental versions in existence by allowing O. Henry's voice to be heard, and providing a vehicle which enhances the story.
November 30, 2009
Strong comic book version of the classic O. Henry story. Joel Priddy adapts one of the best-known Christmas short stories with a light touch that fits the characters very well. The book is a remarkably quick read, with many (if not most) of the panels being a full page, but I don't know quite how else Priddy could have fit the story in an entire book without adding unnecessary elements that O. Henry never intended. It works well, as an adaptation and as a simple story in its own right.
January 11, 2012
They sold their most important things so they could buy a gift to each other. In their heart, boy's wife was the most important person in his heart and he could loose anything for her and he just wanted her to be happy. Della, the man's wife, she also so cared about her husband and he was so important to her and she couldn't live without her.
A great love supposed looks like this, nothing much more important than others
A great love supposed looks like this, nothing much more important than others
January 1, 2011
Having read the original story many years ago does not diminish how touching this tale is. This is a great illustrated adaptation...a quick and visual refresher for readers who already know the story.
December 27, 2015
An intereseting retelling of O'Henry's famous story in graphic novel format. I liked how it kept much of O'Henry's vocabulary and humor. Too often both of those are lost in an effort simplify the story. Probably the best interpretation I've seen, although the original is still best.
December 17, 2022
Although it was really obvious what the ending was going to be, the story still warmed my heart. This is the link that I listened to, I highly recommend listening along. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y5ZRD...
November 25, 2009
Really cute graphic-novel version of the classic story.
December 5, 2009
Charming.
May 27, 2016
This is a very sweet Graphic Novel adaptation of the classic tale by O. Henry. The Gift of the Magi is what Christmas is all about!
December 26, 2012
Gorgeous to read
December 24, 2014
My beloved Christmas story...
January 6, 2015
Timeless classic. Emphasizing love and giving. Perfect Christmas read.
May 29, 2015
A graphic novel that perfectly compliments a true classic. Perfect way for a person to discover The Gift of the Magi, or for any fans of the classic.
December 31, 2016
A beautiful story, and Priddy does a great adaptation.
March 21, 2018
A delightful adaptation- excellent artwork!
December 24, 2018
A great graphic noveladaptation of the classic short story. I love all of Joel Priddy's work, I hope that he is able to create some more books one day!
November 2, 2019
This is a sweet classic story with illustrations that make it more accessible to younger readers. This is perfect for a classroom.
February 6, 2021
I read this years ago and found it a bit silly because of course hair grows back
Two poor lovers sell their prized possessions to buy the other a gift for Christmas
Two poor lovers sell their prized possessions to buy the other a gift for Christmas
June 20, 2021
Predictable. But sweet.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 31 reviews