Violet Books

Tarzan the Terrible is shown here in its Chicago, A. C. McClurg first edition's J. Allen St. John dustwrapper, depicting Tarzan combating members of a primitive, prehensile-tailed race. St. John was one of the greatest action illustrators of the day but of all the the hundreds of books he illustrated, it was his portraits of Tarzan that would make his name immortal among book collectors. Deep in the Belgian Congo, Tarzan discovers a lost world of prehistoric survivors such as sabertooth lions, & unknown races of humans, including ape-people who have more or less domesticated ferocious tricerotops.

J. Allen St John provided another thrilling dustwrapper for Tarzan's Quest (Tarzana: Edgar Rice Burroughs Inc., 1936) which had just been serialized in The Blue Book Magazine beginning October 1935. The novel focusing more than any other on the adventures of Jane rather than Tarzan.

Edgar Rice Burroughs' third Tarzan adventure was The Beasts of Tarzan initially serialized beginning May 16, 1914 in All-Story Cavalier Weekly. It had its first book publication early in 1916 with McClurg, Chicago, again with an impressive J. Allen St. John dustwrapper, plus more interior illustrations than was usual. Bad-guys kidnap Tarzan's infant son which puts Tarzan & Jane in the way of considerable trouble to save little Jack & themselves. .

Tarzan at the Earth's Core was serialized in The Blue Book Magazine beginning September 1929 & had its first book publication late the following year from Metropolitan Books. In 1932 it was issued by Grosset & Dunlap from the Metropolitan first edition plates, retaining even the St. John dustwrapper, & its a copy of that edition shown here. A gigantic dirigible balloon is the source of transportation through the Symme's Hole to Pelucidar, for Tarzan & numerous pals whose expedition he has agreed to lead. They discover an area of Pellucidar ruled by serpent-people.

Tarzan & the Golden Lion was originally serialized in Argosy All-Story in 1922, & had its first book publication the following year. A year after that, 1924, Grosset & Dunlap bought up the first edition plates from McClurg & reissued the book, & its this edition shown here, retaining even the original dustwrapper painting by J. Allen St. John. Tarzan & Jane raise a lion cub as a fiercely protective pet, & good thing too, as Tarzan will need the lion's help while reinstating the high priestess La of Opar as queen over her rebellious city. Intelligent jewel-happy gorillas & racistly stereotyped black Africans abound -- demanding rather more than the usual dose of forgiveness to fully enjoy.

The Jungle Tales of Tarzan is a collection of twelve stories originally run in The Blue Book Magazine beginning September 1916. In 1919 they were issued by A. C. McClurg as the sixth Tarzan book, with a stunning dustwrapper by J. Allen St. John shown here. "Tarzan's First Love" is a rather surprising zoophiliac tale. Overall, his ape-family is sufficiently developed to suggest they are a missing link tribe rather than gorillas per se.

One of ERB's most exciting elements of the Tarzan series is the lingering Atlantean city of Opar, the focus of his fifth Tarzan novel, Tarzan & the Jewels of Opar. It was serialized in All-Story Weekly beginning November 18, 1916 then issued two years later by McClurg, shown here in St. John's fabulous dustwrapper. The book includes material about the hot & horny High Priestess La that was not in the serial appearance, but as Burroughs was not known to rework material once finished, the missing few thousand words were likely removed by the magazine editor & simply restored to the book.

Tarzan the Untamed began as two novellas, one serialized in The Red Book Magazine March through August 1919, the other in All-Story Weekly March 20 through April 17, 1920. Exactly as the second part was finishing up in the pulp, McClurg issued the hardcover, shown here, having besides this splendid cover nine sepia-tone plates inside, all as usual by St. John. Among other goings-on, Tarzan discoveres a lost race of manic, yellow-skinned people who have semi-domesticated black lions.

St. John assuredly did not restrict his genius to just the Tarzan titles. The Moon Maid originated as three novellas serialized in Argosy All-Story Weekly in 1923 & in 1925, then in book form by the A. C. McClurg publishing firm early in 1926. This is that first edition dustwrapper. The novel version, alas, is considerably shorter than the serialized versions of the three stories contained within, the rest of the text not restored until 1963 for two Ace Paperbacks titled The Moon Maid & The Moon Men. So far as I know there is to this day no properly unabridged hardcover edition. The action is set in the future & portrays a Moon civilization even more interesting than his Martian tales.

The Cave Girl originated as two novellas serialized in The All-Story in 1913 then 1917, with its first book publication from McClurg in 1925, the first edition dustwrapper shown at left. As with The Moon Maid only 5,000 copies were printed, so these are among the hardest ERB books to find, though happily the same jacket art was used by Grosset & Dunlap. The action takes place on an uncharted South Seas island with prehistoric peoples, probably CroMagnon, this land being known only to Malay & Chinese pirates.

At the Earth's Core was ERB's first tale of Pellucidar, the world of the Hollow Earth, first serialized in four parts in All-Story Weekly beginning April 4, 1914. Its first book publication was McClurg, 1922, with this St John dustwrapper, plus nine sepia plates within. The tale follows the exploits primarily of David Innes, having come by way of a mineral-hunting vehicle (invented by his campanion Perry) into a world of prehistoric races & creatures dominated by the self-imporant race of Mahars, who are intelligent flying reptiles who enslave humans.

The first of several sequels to At the Earth's Core was Pellucidar serialized in All-Story beginning May 1, 1915, not having book publication until 1923 from A. C. McClurg. Besides the dustwrapper, St John provided four sepia plates within. The story picks up precisely where the first one ended. Perry's inventiveness is used to assist the primitive humans in building an empire that has a chance against the reptilian Mahars, & Innes peformers muscle-guy antics.