Theagenes

The cover story is an adaptation of the Burroughs novel At the Earth's Core, a Hollow Earth/Lost World story. The "rocket" is the vehicle that the protaganists use to travel through the Earth's crust - probably the first "Mole Machine" in fiction and a device that would often be imitated. The cover is just a stylistic representation. (thumbs u Jeff

Thanks guys! Amazingly, Gerber has it listed only as a 6 - I think this is one of the rare occasions where he underestimated a book's scarcity. If there are that many copies out there then they are locked up in collections and are not on the market. I'll try and post some of the interior as soon as I get a chance. That's the one good thing about a low grade copy I don't have to be afraid to scan the interior. (thumbs u Jeff

I posted this in the Cigar Thread, but with all the ERB-philes that frequent this thread I thought there might be some appreciation for it here. This has been one of the toughest books I've ever tried to acquire - harder than John Carter cover Funnies issues which were also pretty tough. It's taken me four years to finally secure a copy. It's beat but I love it! And here's the back cover for those who have never seen the artwork of John Coleman Burroughs, ERB's son.

This is a personal grail that has been a long time coming for me. Hard book to find in any grade.

This just came today, courtesy of GACollectibles - Thanks Andrew! (thumbs u Jeff

for the scans, as always... But you don't know just how plot-challenged it is! Check out the Spurt Hammond story from Planet #11. Look familiar? I love it when we uncover this type of stuff. Simply amazing. The GA really was the Wild West! Wow, that's a trip! So which came first? The Planet 11, I assume? Jeff

sorry, no photo cover here, but a great cover, i think. thanks so much Marnin. Awesome! Jeff

Exactly. As a kid, it was just a cool adventure story - rereading them as an adult, I was kind of taken aback, though I suppose I shouldn't have been surprised given the whole premise. Jeff

Very nice. I haven't read any Burroughs stories since I was a kid. I loved them back then. Has anyone here read them as adults? I wonder if they retain their quality when reread? I'm actually re-reading At the Earth's Core right now in anticipation of my Hi-Spot #2 getting here (Heritage is dropping ball with some seriously slow delivery ). It's pretty fun, but admittedly a bit pedantic - it was definately better when I was 10 or 11. I reread the first few Tarzan and Mars books several years ago on a whim. What shocked me the most was some of the racial language and social Darwinist ideas, things that of course didn't register with me when I was a kid. Jeff

Speaking of ERB's Venus series, I just got this in the mail the other day:

Pirates of Venus was serialized in 1932 and published as a book in 1934. The latest news is that Angelic Pictures has acquired the license to produce Pirates of Venus from ERB, Inc., the estate of Edgar Rice Burroughs. Last month they announced the completion of a Pirates of Venus treatment and screenplay adaptation. Pirates of Venus Movie That is very cool! Hopefully, it won't have the same problems as the John Carter movie. Jeff

It does look like Osoto Gari, but I suspect it's more of an attempt to depict traditional Native American wrestling. Very little knowledge of Native American wrestling survives and it would have varied from tribe to tribe, but it was very likely throw-based. Also, if you remember "Indian Wrestling" from when you were a kid, it involves wrapping your leg around your opponent and trying to force them over from a lying position - while this may or may not have had any resemblence to actual Native American wrestling, it does seem that the perception is that it heavily involed the use of the legs. OTH, judo/jiu-jitsu was the best known of the Asian martial arts in the West during early 20th century due to a number of Kano's students traveling around Europe and America, so who knows. Interesting observations. Also, I'd love to see more swipe sources too! Cool stuff! Jeff

You have good instincts. The 1936 movie poster. 1919 NC Wyeth illustration Since yesterday something had been nagging at me and just after I logged off for this evening, it hit me finally. Do you think Fred Ray liked Wyeth too? This one reverses the angle but keeps the waterfall - THis is great stuff - I love seeing where artists get their inspiration from (i.e. what they're swiping ). I love Wyeth's work. I think my first exposure to him was with the Time-Life Enchanted World book series when I was a kid. His paintings were featured throughout as well on several covers. He was a big influence on a number of comic artists, including Foster. Jeff

Gorgeous! Jeff

That's awesome! Congratulations!! I wish my wife had more of an interest in my collecting habits -- I'm lucky to get the occasional "That's nice dear." Jeff

Wow, you and BZ blow me away! Are those original DJs?! Another Illustrated Tarzan Book No. 1 with the DJ -- I've never seen one w/ the DJ outside of this thread! Amazing ERB collection! Jeff

A couple grand maybe. Honestly I've never seen one that nice for sale before so I don't really know. A much much lower grade copy went for $800 on ebay last week: Weird Tales Dec 1932 auction Jeff A VG/FN one went for $5,377 on Heritage in September 2006. So did the ebay buyer get a fantastic deal or did the Heritage buyer pay way too much. I recall a heritage auction last year where pulps were going for CRAZY money - after years of Heritage often being cheaper than ebay. The Heritage buyer paid way too much, particularly since that copy appears to be overgraded. That one is from that crazy pulp auction last year with the All-Story Tarzan so it's not really representative. That price is, however, about what you might expect for a copy as nice as BZ's. The other two sales on Heritage are more typical ($717 for a VG and $507 for a GD+). As far as comparing values between different collectible markets, several grand is a lot for a pulp, but yes it seems like a bargain compared to comic prices. If you consider the ultimate grail for pulps, the Tarzan All-Story, is about a $50,000 book compared to say $500,000 for a upper mid-grade Action 1 you get an idea of the difference - about one decimal point. Jeff

A couple grand maybe. Honestly I've never seen one that nice for sale before so I don't really know. A much much lower grade copy went for $800 on ebay last week: Weird Tales Dec 1932 auction Jeff

Yep. It contains the first installment of "The Phoenix on the Sword" by REH -- mega pulp grail in uber-high grade! Jeff

BTW, for those who aren't aware, this issue contains the first appearance of Conan.

Yes, please! (thumbs u Ditto! And my god, BZ, those WTs are incredible! Absolutely gorgeous!

(worship)

Sweet!

Thanks! BTW, for those that are interested in the artists from this period, the Argosy cover is by Paul Stahr and the Blue Book is by Laurence Herndon Jeff

Cool! Man, I wish I had known about that museum when I was there for my honeymoon seven years ago. Instead I spent an afternoon wandering around a cemetary looking (unsuccessfully) for Jimi's grave. Jeff