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O. Henry: Complete Short Stories Collection
William Sydney Porter's (AKA O. Henry) short stories are well known for their wit, wordplay, warm characterization, and clever twist endings.
This collection includes:
•"The Last Leaf",
•"The Love Philter of Ikey Schoenstein",
•"The Caliph",
•"Cupid and the Clock",
•"The Brief Debut of Tildy",
•"The Higher Abdication",
•"The Ransom of Red Chief",
•"One Dollar’s Worth",
•"Cupid a la Carte",
•"Girl",
•"Springtime a la Carte",
•"The Ethics of Pig",
•"The Social Triangle",
•"Witches Loaves",
•"The Romace of the Buys Broker",
•"The Making of a New Yorker",
•"Squaring the Circle",
•"A Lickpenny Lover",
•"The Gift of the Magi",
•"Confessions of a Humorist",
•"The Last of the Troubadours",
•"The Furnished Room",
•"The Pride of the Cities",
•"A Retrieved Reformation",
•"The Cop and the Anthem",
•"Included by Courier",
•"Jimmie Hayes and Muriel",
•"School and Schools",
•"Roads of Destiny",
•"A Blackjack Bargainer",
•"A Cosmopolite in a Café",
•"Christmas by Injunction",
•"Mammon and the Archer",
•"A Bird of Bagdad",
•"After 20 Years",
•"From the Cabby’s Seat",
•"Lost on Dress Parade",
•"Memoirs of a Yellow dog",
•"Tobin’s Palm",
•"Transients in Arcadia",
•"The Trimmed Lamp",
•"The Skylight Room",
•"Ulysses and the Dogman",
•"The Pendulum",
•"The Enchanted Profile",
•"The Green Door",
•"The Third Ingredient",
•"The Princess and the Puma"
•"Best-Seller".
This collection includes:
•"The Last Leaf",
•"The Love Philter of Ikey Schoenstein",
•"The Caliph",
•"Cupid and the Clock",
•"The Brief Debut of Tildy",
•"The Higher Abdication",
•"The Ransom of Red Chief",
•"One Dollar’s Worth",
•"Cupid a la Carte",
•"Girl",
•"Springtime a la Carte",
•"The Ethics of Pig",
•"The Social Triangle",
•"Witches Loaves",
•"The Romace of the Buys Broker",
•"The Making of a New Yorker",
•"Squaring the Circle",
•"A Lickpenny Lover",
•"The Gift of the Magi",
•"Confessions of a Humorist",
•"The Last of the Troubadours",
•"The Furnished Room",
•"The Pride of the Cities",
•"A Retrieved Reformation",
•"The Cop and the Anthem",
•"Included by Courier",
•"Jimmie Hayes and Muriel",
•"School and Schools",
•"Roads of Destiny",
•"A Blackjack Bargainer",
•"A Cosmopolite in a Café",
•"Christmas by Injunction",
•"Mammon and the Archer",
•"A Bird of Bagdad",
•"After 20 Years",
•"From the Cabby’s Seat",
•"Lost on Dress Parade",
•"Memoirs of a Yellow dog",
•"Tobin’s Palm",
•"Transients in Arcadia",
•"The Trimmed Lamp",
•"The Skylight Room",
•"Ulysses and the Dogman",
•"The Pendulum",
•"The Enchanted Profile",
•"The Green Door",
•"The Third Ingredient",
•"The Princess and the Puma"
•"Best-Seller".
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First published January 1, 2012
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About the author
O. Henry
2,913 books1,863 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 - 5 of 5 reviews
September 14, 2025
ENGLISH: Over 400 short stories by O.Henry, including those I had read before, which I have reviewed otherwhere. Here I'll review some of those I had not read before.
The style of those (over 100) recopilated in "Postscripts" (1923) reminds me of the humor by Enrique Jardiel Poncela.
Seven of those stories, of which this book contains six, were recopilated in a book title "O.Henriana." One of them, "A professional secret", is a development of a previous story, "A strange case", which appeared in "O.Henry Encore", with a different solution, which the later story mentions. Another story, "The struggle of the outliers," is another version of "Girl," which is one of the best in Whirligigs. By: O. Henry.
This collection includes also three previously uncollected stories: The lotus & the cockleburrs is a previous version of three chapters later included in the novel Cabbages and Kings, The telegram is funny, and A Christmas Pi, which I found uninteresting.
ESPAÑOL: Más de 400 relatos cortos de O.Henry, que incluyen los que ya había leído antes, que he revisado aparte. Aquí voy a revisar algunos de los que no había leído antes.
El estilo de los más de 100 que se recopilaron en "Postscripts" (1923) me recuerda el humor de Enrique Jardiel Poncela.
Siete de los cuentos, de los que este libro contiene seis, fueron recopilados en un libro titulado "O.Henriana". Uno de ellos, "Un secreto profesional", desarrolla un cuento anterior, "Un caso extraño", que apareció en "O.Henry Encore", con una solución diferente, mencionada en el cuento posterior. Otro cuento, "La lucha de los marginados", es otra versión de "Chica", uno de los mejores de Whirligigs. By: O. Henry.
Esta colección incluye también tres relatos no recopilados anteriormente: El loto y los abrojos es una versión anterior de tres capítulos incluidos posteriormente en la novela Cabbages and Kings, El telegrama es gracioso, y A Christmas Pi, que no me pareció muy interesante.
The style of those (over 100) recopilated in "Postscripts" (1923) reminds me of the humor by Enrique Jardiel Poncela.
Seven of those stories, of which this book contains six, were recopilated in a book title "O.Henriana." One of them, "A professional secret", is a development of a previous story, "A strange case", which appeared in "O.Henry Encore", with a different solution, which the later story mentions. Another story, "The struggle of the outliers," is another version of "Girl," which is one of the best in Whirligigs. By: O. Henry.
This collection includes also three previously uncollected stories: The lotus & the cockleburrs is a previous version of three chapters later included in the novel Cabbages and Kings, The telegram is funny, and A Christmas Pi, which I found uninteresting.
ESPAÑOL: Más de 400 relatos cortos de O.Henry, que incluyen los que ya había leído antes, que he revisado aparte. Aquí voy a revisar algunos de los que no había leído antes.
El estilo de los más de 100 que se recopilaron en "Postscripts" (1923) me recuerda el humor de Enrique Jardiel Poncela.
Siete de los cuentos, de los que este libro contiene seis, fueron recopilados en un libro titulado "O.Henriana". Uno de ellos, "Un secreto profesional", desarrolla un cuento anterior, "Un caso extraño", que apareció en "O.Henry Encore", con una solución diferente, mencionada en el cuento posterior. Otro cuento, "La lucha de los marginados", es otra versión de "Chica", uno de los mejores de Whirligigs. By: O. Henry.
Esta colección incluye también tres relatos no recopilados anteriormente: El loto y los abrojos es una versión anterior de tres capítulos incluidos posteriormente en la novela Cabbages and Kings, El telegrama es gracioso, y A Christmas Pi, que no me pareció muy interesante.
July 29, 2022
If the leaf story doesn't make you cry you're a monster.
February 21, 2024
I can’t find a lot of information from enthusiasts of literary history about O. Henry. Yet I know his legacy is everywhere. I was assigned a couple of his stories in English class when I was a kid, so he must be esteemed by some.
If this book is a good sampling of his stories, I think perhaps O. Henry (a.k.a. William Sidney Porter) was a pretty decent writer though they are a little uneven. While some of the stories set him up as a kind of poor man’s Mark Twain, others seem like something I could’ve written when I was thirteen after having received my first thesaurus.
The story called A Retrieved Reformation seemed vaguely familiar. I suspect it was one of the ones I was assigned to read in school.
Anyway, this was an interesting journey down Literary Memory Lane.
If this book is a good sampling of his stories, I think perhaps O. Henry (a.k.a. William Sidney Porter) was a pretty decent writer though they are a little uneven. While some of the stories set him up as a kind of poor man’s Mark Twain, others seem like something I could’ve written when I was thirteen after having received my first thesaurus.
The story called A Retrieved Reformation seemed vaguely familiar. I suspect it was one of the ones I was assigned to read in school.
Anyway, this was an interesting journey down Literary Memory Lane.
October 24, 2016
And now I know what it feels like to love and hate something at the exact same time.
January 16, 2019
A ripping good time...
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews