Frank Triplett

First edition of this controversial biography of Jesse James, "giving full particulars of each and every dark and desperate deed in the career of this most noted outlaw of any time or nation."

• Frank Triplett (American).
• St. Louis, Missouri: J.H. Chambers & Co, 1882.
• xvi-416 pages.
• Includes frontispiece portrait of Jesse James and 26 full-page wood engravings (plus an additional copy of plate 11).
• Bound in original green pictorial cloth stamped in gilt and black with a man shooting over the world "Revenge," cream-coated endpapers.

This biography would become a standard resource for later works on Jesse James, including the novel The Assassination of Jessie James by the Coward Robert Ford (1983) which was turned into the 2007 film of the same name. After publication, questions arose concerning the true extent of the cooperation of Jesse James's wife and mother in providing material, a somewhat fitting twist for a biography of the criminal who fibbed liberally about his own legend. The illustrations include tableaux of various robberies, and a group of firearms labeled "Jesse James' Best Friends." This copy is a second issue, published within months of the first issue: three issues were published in 1882, all of which are scarce and desirable, especially in the original cloth and in presentable condition.