Pat F. Garrett's The Authentic Life of Billy the Kid, the Noted Desperado

1927 revision of the 1882 work published by the New Mexico sheriff who killed Billy the Kid, though it was ghost-written by a friend. Includes the author's original introduction, and adding a new foreword, color frontispiece portrait by pulp artist W.M. Allison, black-and-white reproductions of photographs, facsimiles of original documents, and notes by the editor. The original edition is incredibly scarce and highly sought after. "First genuine biography of America's most spectacular example of juvenile delinquency, purportedly by the sheriff who shot him, but actually ghost-written by a journalist friend, Marshall A. Upson." SGSL: "Because of the widespread criticism of the way he killed Kid, Garrett wanted the world to have his version of the killing, which appears in this book. Although Garrett gave his name to the book, it is said to have been written by his friend Ash Upson, with whom he lived. Upson, a newspaperman who could write with a flourish, gave Garrett the best of the controversy and painted the young outlaw in dark colors... This edition has been well edited, much of the paragraphing having been changed, and has been well annotated by an editor who made a thorough study of Billy the Kid. This edition is therefore much more valuable historically than the original edition."