Lot 216

1926 1st Ed. The Saga of Billy the Kid by W. Burns

Estimate: $250 - $500

Bid Increments

Price Bid Increment
$0 $5
$50 $10
$100 $25
$500 $50
$1,000 $100
$2,000 $250
$5,000 $500
$10,000 $1,000
$25,000 $2,500
$100,000 $5,000
Featured in this lot is this rare first edition copy of "The Saga of Billy the Kid" by William Noble Burns, 1926. First published in 1926, this entertaining and dramatic biography forever installed outlaw Billy the Kid in the pantheon of mythic heroes from the Old West and is still considered the single most influential portrait of Billy in this century. The book focuses on the Kid's life and experiences in the bloody war between the Murphy-Dolan and Tunstall-McSween gangs in and around Lincoln, New Mexico, between 1878 and 1881. Burns paints the Kid as a boyish Robin Hood or romantic knight galvanized into a life of crime and killing by the war's violence and bloodshed. Billy represented the romantic and anarchic Old West that the march of civilization was rapidly displacing. Walter Noble Burns' “The Saga of Billy the Kid” kindled a fascination in Billy the Kid that survives to this day. The book shows a green cover with an embossed stamp of a cowboy hat, whip, and pistol and a gold gilt text on the spine. This copy shows some wear to the binding and spine due to age, but is overall in good condition. It measures 6" x 8.5".