{"id":1326,"date":"2008-04-01T12:23:36","date_gmt":"2008-04-01T12:23:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.john-howe.com\/blog\/?p=1326"},"modified":"2020-09-25T08:39:43","modified_gmt":"2020-09-25T07:39:43","slug":"barsoom-pellucidar-amtor-caspak-and-beyond","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.john-howe.com\/blog\/barsoom-pellucidar-amtor-caspak-and-beyond\/","title":{"rendered":"Barsoom, Pellucidar, Amtor, Caspak and Beyond"},"content":{"rendered":"

Or The Curious Business of Meal Tickets and Realms of Fantasy<\/h4>\n

Recently I\u2019ve been happily plowing through a biography of Edgar Rice Burroughs. A hefty two-volume affair, by Irwin Porges, it is eminently entertaining reading and above all packed with quotes.<\/p>\n

The must unexpected aspect of Burroughs\u2019 life seems to be his constant skirmishing with editors and film-makers, indeed with nearly everyone involved in commericializing his work. Petulant and disgruntled letters by the score show up throughout his correspondance. Burroughs would simultaneously rail against \u201chigh-brows\u201d and hollow honours (claiming to be a low-brow himself, writing only for entertainment) and quietly write to an influential friend enquiring why Tarzan wasn\u2019t in the dictionary yet. He relentlessly hounded his publishers for higher royalties, complained about cover artwork and movie adaptations, threatened to give up writing altogether with an energy and persistance equalled only by his actual writing output itself.<\/p>\n

Epidermic reactions to what he perceived as menaces from abroad characterize his ficition, resulting in the systematic nationalizing of villians in his novels – both world wars produced a bevy of despicable Huns into whose bellies he yearned to see Tarzan shove spears (when he wasn\u2019t feeding them to lions; Japanese villians too get a thrashing in the early 40\u2019s). Later, when faced with the disastrous reception of the Tarzan tales when they were translated in Germany, coupled with a vigorous press campaign and public outcry (hardly a surprise), he cautioned his editor to remove any passages that could be perceived as racist, claiming he never meant to offend. Not above a little armchair vituperation from the comfort of his home, second thoughts came quickly when book sales were in danger.<\/p>\n

Evil Russians are pretty much a regular feature, but nothing beats \u201cUnder the Red Flag\u201d for sheer futuristic doom and gloom. His dystopian America in the 21st century under Bolshevik domination was so transparently and venomously anti-communist that his editors told him to just forget publishing it altogether. (It was rejected eleven times between 1919 and 1921.) Undeterred, he rewrote the story, replacing Communists by invading Kalkars from the Moon from under whose iron rule brave Earthmen fight for freedom, led by Julian 9th, born in 2100 in a Commune of the Chicago Soviet. It finally appeared as \u201cThe Moon Men\u201d, becoming the second in a trilogy, flanked by \u201cThe Moon Maid\u201d and \u201cThe Red Hawk\u201d. (The truly novel facet to these stories is the repeated reincarnation of villian and hero, through the four-hundred-year feud of the houses of Julian and Or-tis, ending with a final battle on the Moon itself and reconciliation of the two dynasties – Mundane Romeo and Seleno-Juliet, but with a happy ending.)<\/p>\n

Nor was Burroughs opposed to a little well-meaning eugenism on the side in his science fiction, the human race benefitting from careful breeding like prize horses or bulls. He even managed to conceive of a full egalitarian and happy race without class or inequality,\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 nevertheless dominated by a hereditary dictatorship. He also believed to some extent that characteristics such as diligence, intelligence and general uprighteousness were inherited and racial. Usually he expressed his outlook indirectly through his fiction; his views in editorials are often uncomfortable to read today.<\/p>\n

Born in 1875, he spent much of his schooling in military academies, where he was a fractious and undisciplined cadet. When his application at West Point was rejected, he joined the 7th Cavalry in Fort Grant, Arizona Territory while the West was still wild enough to have roving bands of Apaches and serious outlaws. When he married in 1900, he and his wife Emma survived \u201cjust ahead of the sheriff\u201d for years, Burroughs engaging determinedly in countless unsuccessful business ventures and dead-end jobs (the last one was selling pencil sharpeners) before finally turning to fiction. Unimpressed by the content of the pulps* of the time, he was convinced, as he later reminisced: \u201c…if people were paid for writing rot such as I read in some of those magazines that I could write stories just as rotten. As a matter of fact, although I had never written a story, I knew absolutely that I could write stories just as entertaining and probably a whole lot more so than any I chanced to read in those magazines.\u201d<\/p>\n

Burroughs casually dismissed his fiction as mere entertainment, calling it his \u201cmeal ticket\u201d. He disliked \u201crecognized\u201d authors, or rather the lionizing of them by the intelligentsia he so depised, adding that intelligent people made him feel sleepy. (He did wonder out loud why authors like Zane Grey, who he considered a peer, were making so much more money than he was. Still he was wounded by what he esteemed and unjustified lack of recognition – his jeremiads take on a feigned casual air, dropping the \u201cg\u201d from \u201c-ing\u201d when he is feelin\u2019 self-pity and claimin\u2019 just the the opposite.) He had the underdog\u2019s loathing of lawyers, scorn for literary critics, exceedingly curious and cynical notions about politics and government, and hated golf. Nor did he have much sympathy for \u201cthe masses\u201d, while lauding the qualities of the common man (his first stories were written under the peculiar pseudonym of \u201cNormal Bean\u201d), he took no real interest in him beyond magazine circulation. Burroughs was, though, something of an ecologist before the word was invented, and during his tenure at his Tarzana ranch he planted trees energetically and drove hunters away with gusto. (Ecologist, but not one to pass up a good deal; he subdivided the ranch into building lots and created a golf course as fast-spreading Los Angeles suburbs and rising land prices came his way.)<\/p>\n

And in all fairness, if his bark could be sharp, his bite was\u2026 well, inexistant. He never resorted to underhanded tricks so common in the budding movie industry, and despite his eagerness to turn a quick profit, scrupulously avoided all murky endeavours. Had he travelled more extensively, his view of the world would have likely been largely more balanced; he was also quick and open about renouncing prejudices when he gained a better understanding. Like Lovecraft, his opinionated rants seem to come more from the insecurity bred of unfamiliarity, he displays none of the paranoia and bluster of Robert E. Howard, Conan\u2019s creator,\u00a0 and led a far more normal life than the pessimistic recluse from Providence. Nor does he seem to have participated in the steady correspondance they and other fantasy writers exchanged. He did, however, scrupulously reply to letters from readers, and carried on long epistolary exchanges with several.<\/p>\n

Above all, he is an illustrator\u2019s author, providing, through his astonishingly fertile imagination, a wealth of worlds which have provided the inspiration for generations of painters and illustrators. All in all, he was very much what he claimed loudly to be, a decent ordinary American, open to prejudice and intolerance, with little first-hand knowledge of the world outside (Burroughs\u2019 only trips abroad came in his 60\u2019s when he moved to Hawaii with his second wife, and became a war correspondant in the Pacific Theatre following Pearl Harbour), but an earnestness, and a basic honesty beyond reproach. An irrepressible sense of self-deprecation is his grandest saving grace. (Burroughs claimed that he had lived a life far too boring to be of interest to anyone and episodes gleaned from his fiction, the life of the \u201cOther Burroughs\u201d, the one born in Peking for example,\u00a0 where his father was military adviser to the Empress of China, and who lived there, in the Forbidden City, until the age of ten, have now blurred the line between fact and fiction and are taken by many at face value. Burroughs would certainly have been most amused.) His bull-headed and indefatigable defence of his rights and royalties is admirable. Well before it became commonplace, he inaugurated meet-the-author sessions for his public, and invested a huge amount of energy in the Tarzan clubs (cynics would say it was to groom his future reading public, but Tarzan was very much a Baden-Powell figure in leopardskin trunks).\u00a0 Also, thanks to a carefully preserved correspondance, it\u2019s possible to glean an idea of his interaction with the illustrators visualizing his worlds and the close (very close) attention he reserved for their work.<\/p>\n

Nowadays, with Tarzan largely a household world, fully absorbed into general global culture along with the likes of Coca-Cola, the character no longer quite carries the punch he did while the author was busily spinning tales and basically taking on all comers:<\/p>\n

FAKE TARZANS ARE WARNED BY FAMED AUTHOR<\/strong>
\nBurroughs Says His Character Is Losing Face<\/em>
\nNevada State Journal
\nReno, Nevada
\nSaturday, May 20, 1939
\nBy Frederick C. Othman<\/p>\n

TARZANA, Cal., May 19, 1939 (U.P): Edgar Rice Burroughs served notice Friday on all unauthorized Tarzans, whose number is legion and whose ears mostly are cauliflower, to quit insulting the name that he made famous. As creator of a major industry based upon the adventures of his mythical ape man, Burroughs informed the Tarzans, including wrestlers, prize fighters, and professional footballers, that they\u2019re making a bum of the original Tarzan. He said they\u2019d have to change their names or face the consequences.<\/p>\n

Hits Wrestlers<\/strong>
\n\u201cWhat got me worried about the situation,\u201d he reported here in the white stucco lair of Tarzan, the ape man, \u201cwas a wrestling match I saw the other night, featuring a Mr. Tarzan Orth. \u201cThis Mr. Tarzan Orth danced around the ring a while, fell on his face, and posed like dying fawn. And all the fans at ringside took out their handkerchiefs and waved them at Mr. Tarzan Orth and said: \u2018\u201cYoo-hoo, Tartan!\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

This insult to the king of the jungle, whom he first imagined in 1912 and who has been going strong ever since in books, magazines, newspapers, and movie theaters, caused Burroughs to write sharp notes to all the Tarzans he knew. A typical letter from the president of Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc., went to a Mr. Tarzan White, member of the west coast wrestling syndicate. It said:<\/p>\n

\u201cI have not granted you permission to the use of this name and I now notify you that I do not grant such permission. Your use of this name in connection with your activities may result in confusion in the minds of the public and remit in damage to this character and its name.\u201d<\/p>\n

One Real Tarzan<\/strong>
\nBurroughs said there was only one man in the world authorized to can himself Tarzan and that was Mr. Johnny Weissmuller, for whom Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer studios had paid the proper fee and who actually looked on the silver sheet like Tarzan ought to look.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe other, self-christened Tarzans are apes, all right.\u201d Burroughs said, \u201conly they\u2019re muscle bound and have broken noses. Furthermore, \u2018Tarzan\u2019\u2019 is a copyrighted trademark and if these plug uglies insist upon using it I\u2019m going to insist on the right to license them and stencil the copyright number on their chests.\u201d<\/p>\n

The genial Burroughs, who operates all his Tarzan enterprises from this town named after his celebrated character, said he\u2019d had considerable Tarzan trouble lately. \u201cAnd the worst was when I bought a pedigreed sheep dog for my son,\u201d he said. \u201cThe boy wanted to name his pet Tarzan\u2019 and would you know? The breeders association would not let us use that name. They said somebody else already had a sheep dog named \u2018Tarzan.\u2019 \u201cAnd that\u2019s the way it goes and I\u2019m getting tired of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Names Approved<\/strong>
\nBurroughs said finally that he understood some parents had named their babies Tarzan.\u2019 This, he said, is okay. A Tarzan that starts from scratch should turn into a fine young man and be a credit to the keen-eyed, lithe-limbed Tarzan I, who has been earning his creator handsome dividends for the last 27 years.
\nEdgar Rice Burroughs wrote over eighty novels and collections of short stories, inventing not only Tarzan\u2019s Africa (filled with lost kingdoms, savage tribes and disoriented foreigners), but also Barsoom (the John Carter of Mars series), Pellucidar (his Hollow Earth novels), Amtor (set on Venus) and the lost island of Caspak, as well as a good number of westerns and historical romances.
\nHis first novel, \u201cUnder the Moons of Mars\u201d, was serialized in The All-Story magazine in 1912.
\nHis longest novel, the 125,000-word \u201cMarcia of the Doorstep\u201d, remained unpublished until 1999.
\nHe died on March 19, 1950.<\/p>\n

I must have read the whole Burroughs opus before I was fifteen. (I\u2019m not at all sure I could manage it now, any more than I can still read authors like Robert E. Howard, who I adored beyond reason.) I soldiered right through ALL the Tarzan novels, with their endless succession of lost anachronsitic empires and malevolent but seductive princesses, purchased (I still have them) the DoubleDay hardcover book club editions of his Mars series illustrated by Frank Frazetta (much of my pocket money went to mail-order books),\u00a0 hunted down and found nearly all the old Ace paperbacks with Frazetta covers<\/a>\u00a0 and the funny red lettering with the spiky bits. Burroughs was nothing if not prolific; he wrote at an astonishing speed, being the master of the cliff-hanger ending, leaving readers positively baying for a sequel. He wrote twenty-three for Tarzan alone.<\/p>\n

I bought copies of all Burroughs\u2019 Martian, Venusian, Inner-Earth and various and sundry other novels when Ace recommissioned Frank Frazetta to do the covers in the 70\u2019s and re-purchased the whole lot of Tarzan paperbacks when Neal Adams and Boris did new covers. (I may even have read the things again, go figure, but it\u2019s likely I just laid them out side by side on the floor of my room and daydreamed over them.) My biggest investment, though, was signing up for the the Edgar Rice Burroughs Library of Illustration: Limited Centennial Edition, from Russ Cochran, Publisher, which must have cost about 10 acres of raspberries picked at 2 dollars a flat during the long summers leading up to fall 1976. ( I had tried strawberries, but was no match for the nimble-fingered housewives who could pick a row at three times my speed. I eventually went for cherries, apricots and pears, happier perched on ladders than bruising my knees in strawberrry patches. Back then it as still possible to earn enough in one summer for the next term in art school. Fruit financed my first forays into literature and illustration.)<\/p>\n

Weighing in at a good 15 pounds (with slipcase) the Library is a compendium of the artwork produced over the years for various Burroughs novels.<\/p>\n

Volume One is dedicated largely to illustrator J. Allen St. John<\/a>.** Born in 1875, a contemporary of the likes of Franklin Booth and N. C. Wyeth, St. John created a considerable number of paintings for Burroughs\u2019 novels. His meticulous research, diligently reading manuscripts and taking scrupulous notes, did nothing to compromise his free painterly style (underpinned by a faultless academicism) and classical mastery of light. (He also seemed relatively immune to Burroughs\u2019 peevish interventionism, doubtlessly secure in the knowledge that if given too hard a time there was plenty of work elsewhere.)<\/p>\n

J. Allen St. John\u2019s work appears on the hardcover editions of many Burroughs stories, until replaced in the early sixties by decidedly less inspired illustrators like C. Edmond Monroe Jr., who were likely calculated to have more appeal to a juvenile public. (To see some of St. John\u2019s covers, J. Allen St. John\u2019s Edgar Rice Burroughs Dustwrapper Gallery<\/a>. Jessica Amanda Salmonson\u2019s Violet Books site<\/a> is a treasure trove of Golden Age illustration, by the way.)<\/p>\n

The first cover ever done for Tarzan, however, is the work of Clinton Pettee, who seems only to be remembered only through that one picture, published on the cover of the October 1912 edition of \u201d All-Story\u201d magazine and entitled \u201cTarzan of the Apes: A Romance of the Jungle\u201d. Burroughs carelessly inserted a tiger named \u201cSabor\u201d in the book, drawing a few cynical letters-to-the-editor and touching off a heated epistolary debate as to the nature and meaning of the word \u201ctiger\u201d in colonial Africa. He removed the embarassing Sabor when Tarzan finally appeared in book form. The novel was published by A. C. McClurg & Co. in 1914, with the decidedly unathletic silhouette of Tarzan slouching on a branch by an artist named Fred J. Arting, who, like Pettee, seems only to be remembered in relation to his subject. The cover was reprinted steadily from 1914 through the 1950\u2019s, when a decidedly awful picture by Gerald McCann was substituted. (Burroughs would have sent a blistering letter about that one, for sure.)<\/p>\n

Despite being ERB\u2019s favorite illustrator, St. John received the occasional broadside.\u00a0 In July 1927, Burroughs sent a scathing letter of reproof to the editor about St. John\u2019s cover painting for \u201cThe War Chief\u201d. \u201cThe figure of the Indian is not of an Apache, it does not look like an Indian and is as homely as Hell. I did not mind so much when I saw it on the magazine cover, but I was nearly sick when I saw that you had adopted it for the book, as I wassure St. John would do something really worth while for it. There is nothing of the atmosphere or colouring of Arizona in the foliage or background; in fact the whole things is atrocious and if the picture can kill sales, I am confident this one will.\u201d In the increasingly heated exchange of letters that followed, ERB added \u201cYou do not have to tell me why this jacket was selected. It was solely because it was bought cheap\u2026 and a couple of hundred dollars saved.\u201d<\/p>\n

Delaware artist Frank Schoonover<\/a> (1877-1972),\u00a0 though more readily associated with the likes of James Fenimore Cooper, also did a few illustrations for \u201cA Princess of Mars\u201d in 1917. There is even, astonishingly enough, a Tarzan cover by N.C. Wyeth<\/a>, the cover of \u201cNew Story Magazine\u201d for the Return of Tarzan, in August 1913. The Return of Tarzan was serialized by over seven issues between June and December;\u00a0 Wyeth also did the cover for the first installment which is presumed lost, indeed I\u2019ve only ever seen the one that is familiar to everbody. (Additionally, he did a cover for All Story magazine\u2019s publication of \u201cThe Outlaw of Torn\u201d in January 1914.) Burroughs wrote to enquire about purchasing the originals, and was told it was an unofficial \u201ccustom of the house\u201d to sell them for half of the fee paid the artist – in this case, fifty dollars each. Burroughs could not pay the amount and let the matter drop. In 1965, Hulbert Burroughs\u2019 curiosity was piqued by the mention of the Wyeth cover, tracked it down and purchased it for $1,500.00.<\/p>\n

Volume Two kicks off with the competent and often elegant but rather tame Tarzan illustrations by Studley O. Burroughs, son of ERB\u2019s older brother Henry. Studley\u2019s style was ill-suited to ERB\u2019s demands and ERB supplied agonizingly detailed resum\u00e9s of what he wished to see on each cover. Replying to a submission of sketches, he wrote \u201d Do you object to my telling you exactly what I wanted? I know some artists do.\u201d When he saw the finished cover of \u201cTarzan Triumphant\u201d, he had this to say: \u201cHe is too prissy and has a belly on him almost as large as mine\u2026 Tarzan Triumphant looks as though he might be several months along towards an increase in the family\u2026\u201d
\nIn passing, he criticised St. John, blaming him for dropping sales, seeming not to take into account the deepening Depression. \u201cIf you have any of my former books I wish you would note the almost total loss of outstanding sales value in St. John\u2019s jackets. As works of art they seem to me about all that could be desired, but as outstanding, compelling attention attractors they are not so hot.\u201d
\nStudley\u2019s drinking problems (and doubtlessly the feeling of working for an ungrateful – and close family – client for low fees and too few kind words) ended up resulting in missed deadlines and disappointment. Eventually ERB dropped him and took up again with St. John.<\/p>\n

The first Tarzan comic, syndicated in 1929, is done by Hal Foster<\/a>, each strip (60 in all) being a handful of vignettes with text below, the very early beginnings of the daily comic strip. Foster\u2019s next contribution, full-sized Sunday pages, still has no word balloons, but a far looser layout, with dialogue in quotation marks inside the panels. He kept at it from 1931 to 1937, before moving on to Prince Valiant.<\/p>\n

Volume Two is very largely dedicated to the illustrations of John Coleman Burroughs, Edgar\u2019s son, whose work, alas, is uninspired where it\u2019s not simply mediocre. ERB dropped J. Allen St. John in favour of his son, with editors no doubt heaving a sigh of relief, spared the unenviable role of the middle man trying to placate the sensibilities of both parties. (And in the end, probably not caring so much what went on a cover as long as it sold well.) In 1937, John did his first Burroughs cover for \u201cThe Oakdale Affair\u201d and \u201cThe Rider\u201d. In the words of ERB \u201c…it has always been the ambition of my son, Jack, and myself that one day he would illustrate one of my books. He is doing very excellent work, and I am having him illustrate the Spring book for us.\u201d John Coleman Burroughs went on to illustrate practically everything, over one hundred paintings in all. (Curiously for a stickler like Burroughs p\u00e8re, EVERY depiction of a bow and arrow is wholly wrong.) There is also a generous selection of John Coleman Burroughs\u2019 John Carter of Mars and Pellucidar comics (over-generous – nearly 100 pages). The book is rounded off with Dell Comic Tarzan covers by Morris Gollub, whose Tarzan looks very much the 1950\u2019s Charles Atlas type, clean-cut and wholesome, but not particularly inspired.<\/p>\n

Volume Three sums up with the idols of my teenage artist-hero worship: Frank Frazetta and Roy G. Krenkel<\/a>. (I never warmed to Reed Crandall, who only did work on the Mars books because Al Williamson, the illustrator originally considered, was too busy.) I of course missed Hal Foster (he was far happier doing Price Valiant anyway) and his successor Burne Hogarth<\/a> (but quite frankly, his unrelenting action poses in every possible situation are tiring after a while, as are the wooden faces of his protagonists. How Tarzan maintains those astonishing stances with both feet so consistently planted firmly on the ground has always been beyond me), but assiduously collected Russ Manning\u2019s Sunday colour pages. Naturally, Frazetta\u2019s work recaptures the magic, absent since St. John. The earlier Tarzan work from the 1950\u2019s is in watercolour, before his switch to oils and the full development of his trademark style. One wonders what Burroughs would have thought. Likely he would have approved wholeheartedly.
\nIn the same volume is J. Allen St. John\u2019s last Tarzan illustration a pen and ink rendering of \u201cTarzan and the Eagle”after the 1919 colour painting done for \u201cJungle Tales of Tarzan\u201d, done in 1957, the year of his death.<\/p>\n

So why this double detour, both into my teen fantasies and the age of pulps? Well, I\u2019m like everbody else, I thought I was pretty well-informed. But, as usual, it turns that there\u2019s always a lot more behind a few pictures than you ever imagine. And besides, detours are always worth taking, they never do lead where you expect.
\nCOMING UP<\/strong><\/p>\n

The French edition of the Fantasy Art Workshop is due out April 17th (curiously enough \u201cfantasy art\u201d in English now translates as \u201cfantasy art\u201d in French, with the term \u201cla fantasy\u201d now busily working its way towards inclusion in French dictionaries), so we will be in Paris for a little show at the Galerie Arludik<\/a>. (When the page comes up, click on \u201cPROCHAINEMENT\u201d in the menu.) The opening is at 18:30. The following day,\u00a0 April 18th: event – signing session, etc. –\u00a0 at the FNAC Montparnasse at 5:30 p.m.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/td>\n\"\"<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

GALERIE ARLUDIK
\n12-14 rue Saint-Louis en l\u2019\u00cele,
\n75004 PARIS<\/p>\n

For more information:
\nDiane LAUNIER
\nT\u00e9l\/Fax : 01 43 26 19 22
\nPortable : 06 60 10 48 92
\nCONTACTS@ARLUDIK.COM<\/a>
\nCOMING (BACK) UP (AGAIN)<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cThere and Back Again<\/a>\u201d has been rescheduled on the Swiss television TSR 2<\/a>, this time at quarter to midnight on April 4th. Talk about prime time\u2026
\n* The pulps were of course the prime market for writers of fiction of all sorts in the first half of the 20th century in the US. Printed on cheap wood pulp paper, they were the descendants of the \u201cpenny dreadfuls\u201d of the century before. \u201cGlossies\u201d refers to magazines rather more up-market, printed on better stock.<\/em><\/p>\n

**Links to these artists will lead you to Jim Vadeboncoeur\u2019s truly excellent Illustrators<\/a><\/strong> site. Not only does Jim provide a concise introduction to each artist, but he furnishes ample links for further reading and research. Also, if you are an admirer of the Golden Age of Illustration and you don\u2019t have EVERY copy of ImageS<\/a><\/strong>, then you must do some catching up. For a thorough immersion (take a deep breath) in the ERB universe, go to the official Edgar Rice Burroughs<\/a> web site.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Or The Curious Business of Meal Tickets and Realms of Fantasy Recently I\u2019ve been happily plowing through a biography of Edgar Rice Burroughs. A hefty two-volume affair, by Irwin Porges, it is eminently entertaining reading and above all packed with quotes. The must unexpected aspect of Burroughs\u2019 life seems to be his constant skirmishing with […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[369,380,298],"class_list":["post-1326","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-chronicles","tag-fantasy-art-workshop","tag-fnac","tag-signing"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1PY8Y-lo","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.john-howe.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1326","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.john-howe.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.john-howe.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.john-howe.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.john-howe.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1326"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.john-howe.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1326\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.john-howe.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1326"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.john-howe.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1326"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.john-howe.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1326"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}