Description

FIRST EDITION TRANSLATION AND ADAPTATION BY BLAISE CENDRARS.
ONE OF 21 NUMBERED COPIES ON VELLUM PUR-FILAfter 6 copies on Montval, 62 copies on esparto followed.

Cendrars, who had met Jenning during the last days of his stay in Hollywood, translated and adapted "from American and slang" the work published in 1923 under the title Through the Shadows with O. Henry.
The French text will first appear in daily serials in Paris-Soir -  between 12 December 1935 and 2 January 1936 - with this introduction:

"Al Jennings, the king of the outlaws, the most famous American train robber, the 'terror' of the Indian Territory, whose sensational memoirs we are publishing today, is not a movie cowboy, nor a conventional character from a detective novel, nor a romantic hero bent under the weight of fate.
On the contrary, he is a terribly likeable adventurer, close, familiar, a battler who always struggled with destiny, who knew how to defeat it and rebuild his life.
In short, he is a man with a big heart who tells us about his dizzying existence simply, with good humour and enthusiasm, of course, but without boasting and without ever losing touch with the deepest humanity.. "