By 1901, Wister had gathered enough material to make The Virginian a novel.  While vacationing in Charleston, South Carolina, he integrated his Virginian stories into a coherent work.  Some of this work involved clipping the published articles and pasting them together into galley proofs.  Additions and revisions to the text were made with handwritten notes.                  

The first edition of The Virginian was published in 1902.  It was an immediate best seller, selling 300,000 copies in its first year of publication.  The book made Wister a very wealthy man and continued to sell well after his death in 1938.

Original cast of stage version of The Virginian, ca. 1904. Owen Wister Papers, American Heritage Center

In 1904, Owen Wister and Kirk La Shell co-produced the original stage version of The Virginian, which had a successful ten-year run.  Four film versions of The Virginian have appeared since 1914.  A successful television version of The Virginian aired during the 1960s.  

Mary Brian and Gary Cooper in the first sound film version of The Virginian, 1929. American Heritage Center Collections

Since its 1902 publication, The Virginian has left a lasting impact upon the American cultural landscape.  In earlier years after its publication, The Virginian did much to popularize the American West.  As a result, a romanticized view of the West became an integral part of the American popular imagination and cultural identity.   In recent years, The Virginian has come under scrutiny.  Wister’s portrayal of the West is seen by many as a myth at odds with reality.

Regardless of one’s opinions about the book, The Virginian has stood the test of time as the prototypical Western novel.  By writing this book, Owen Wister created a basic Western formula that continues to be used to the present day.

“That’s All” – Owen Wister carrying camera, no date. Owen Wister Papers, American Heritage Center

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