The Dragon Of Wantley

The Dragon of Wantley (1892) is an early comic novel by Owen Wister (1860-1938), the Philadelphia writer who a decade later invented the modern Western with The Virginian. Published by J.B. Lippincott with illustrations by John Stewardson, the book carries the full title The Dragon of Wantley: His Rise, His Voracity, and His Downfall. Wister spins a mock-medieval burlesque out of the old Yorkshire ballad of the same name, the ballad that had already fueled Henry Carey’s 1737 comic opera, and sets his romance at an English manor during a snowbound thirteenth-century Christmas. The book sold steadily, reaching a fifth edition by 1903. It survives as a glimpse of Wister’s playful side before the cowboy fame arrived. Free PDF download available on BDeBooks.