Such 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.
Series
Books
From the Cabby's Seat
2022
An Odd Character
2025
The Coming-Out of Maggie
2022
A Chaparral Prince
1997
What You Want
2013
Collected Stories
1978
Memorias de un Perro Amarillo y otros cuentos
2012
The Love-Philtre of Ikey Schoenstein
2009
A Bird Of Bagdad
2013
Gift of the Magi/The Purple Dress
2006
Jeff Peters as a Personal Magnet
2020
Classic American Short Stories
2007
Great American Short Stories
1997
The Purple Dress
1906
Between Rounds
2003
Kısa Öykünün Büyük Ustaları
2016
The Voice of the City
1919
A Chaparral Christmas Gift
2012
By Courier
2025
Holiday Classics
2010
Stories by O. Henry
1965
Memoirs of a Yellow Dog
1906
The Handbook of Hymen
2016
After Twenty Years
1973
Christmas with O. Henry
2021
The Ultimate Christmas Collection
2020
Rolling Stones
1899
The Prisoner of Zembla
2023
Last Leaf
1907
Manhattan Noir 2
The Classics
2008
The Gift of the Magi and Other New York Stories
1984
New Yorkers
Short Stories
1901
O. Henry Stories
1962
Collected Stories of O. Henry
Revised and Expanded
1979
The Ransom of Red Chief
Mandarin Companion Graded Readers: Level 1, Traditional Chinese Edition
2018
The Big Book of the Masters of Horror
120+ authors and 1000+ stories
2018
O Christmas Three
O. Henry, Tolstoy, and Dickens
2010
Шедьоври на разказа с неочакван край - Т. I
2017
The Hiding Of Black Bill
1997
Options
1909
Cabbages and Kings
1904
Printemps a La Carte/Springtime a La Carte
1906
A Strange Story
2019
Two Thanksgiving Day Gentlemen
1986
Cuentos de Nueva York
1954
Selected Stories
1922
41 Stories
1984
A Service of Love
2021
The Penguin Book of American Short Stories
1969
A Timeless Christmas
A Collection of Classic Stories and Poems
2020
Christmas by Injunction
1899
Buried Treasure
2020
The Duplicity of Hargraves
2012
A Cosmopolite In A Café
2019
Classic Ghost Stories
2007
The Gift of the Magi and Other Christmas Stories
1905
Tobin's Palm
2012
Good and Perfect Gifts
An Illustrated Retelling of O. Henry's the Gift of the Magi
1997
50 Greatest Short Stories
2015
O. Henry Short Stories
2020
Confessions of a Humorist
2004
The Furnished Room
1906
O. Henry à La Carte
The Gift of the Magi and Other Favorites
1973
Elsie in New York and the Purple Dress
2006
Tales of O. Henry
1969
A Blackjack Bargainer
1901
A Retrieved Reformation
1903
The Gift of the Magi
1905
The Big Book of Christmas
140+ authors and 400+ novels, novellas, stories, poems & carols
2020
Great Stories of O. Henry
1974
An Unfinished Story
1906
The Best of O. Henry
1929
O. Henry
Collected Works
2015
Works of O. Henry. (100+ Works). Including The Ransom of Red Chief, The Cop and the Anthem, The Gift of the Magi, A Retrieved Reformation, After Twenty … & more.
2009
Roads of Destiny
1902
Hearts and Hands
2025
The Pendulum
1907
The Ransom of Red Chief
1907
One Thousand Dollars
1997
O. Henry Collection
2012
Friends in San Rosario
2015
Cuentos breves para leer en el bus
2004
O. Henry
2012
American Scenes
1965
Western Classic Collection
Cabin Fever, Heart of the West, Good Indian, Riders of the Purple Sage…
2012
The Very Best of O. Henry
2010
Cuentos de Navidad
De los hermanos Grimm a Paul Auster
2015
100 Selected Stories
1995
An Adjustment of Nature
2019
A Treasury of Civil War Stories
1986
the making of a new yorker
1907
Hearts and Crosses
2016
Whistling Dick's Christmas Stocking
1909
Five Beloved Stories
2023
Персики
2025
A Christmas Carol and Other Favorites
2000
Трест, который лопнул
2025
The Cactus
1902
The Cop and the Anthem and Other Stories
2020
O. Henry Short Stories
1907
101 Stories
2002
The Skylight Room
1906
Whirligigs
1910
O Henry
The Fiction
2006
The Princess and the Puma
2008
Caliph, Cupid, and the Clock
2019
The Best Short Stories of O. Henry
1945
Strictly Business
1917
The Ransom of Red Chief & Other Stories by O. Henry
2005
