It is no surprise then to learn that Gilbert formed a fine Burroughs collection and when that library was offered by Pacific Book Auctions on November 15, it kicked off with the contract for Tarzan of the Apes that launched one of the most famous literary creations of the last century.
Edgar Rice Burroughs had seen one of his SF stories, A Princess of Mars, published in magazine form in 1912, under the pseudonym of Norman Bean, but it was Tarzan of the Apes, first published complete in the October 1912 issue of All-Story, that laid the foundation for his enormously successful career and it was in April 1914 that he signed the contract with McClurg & Co. that sold here for $18,000 (£12,855).
A scarce broadside pre-publication announcement for the first bookform edition of Tarzan of the Apes that McLurg issued just a few weeks later, inviting orders at $1.30 per copy for “one of the most original and remarkable stories ever written”, was sold at $2500 (£1785).
Other Tarzan highlights included a 1916 first of The Beasts of Tarzan containing a presentation inscription and an amusing drawing by Burroughs that sold for $2500 (£1785) and a 1927 Photoplay edition of Tarzan and the Golden Lions, signed by Burroughs and many others involved in the publication of the book and the making of the silent film version – among the latter being James H. Pierce, who played Tarzan in the film and subsequently married ERB’s daughter Joan. The latter book was in a facsimile wrapper.
Other books given by Edgar Rice Burroughs to Ed Gilbert
included a 1919 first of The Warlord of Mars. Complete with pictorial jacket, this copy was inscribed and dated 1939 and contains a sketch by ERB of a six-armed Thark. It was sold for $4500 (3215).
Tarzan’s outhouse and Synthetic Men from Mars – an ERB special
ED GILBERT, a Californian book dealer, became a fan of Edgar Rice Burroughs when he read The Gods of Mars in 1925, aged just 12 years. Shortly thereafter he was introduced to ERB by his elder sister, Florence, who in 1935 became the writer’s wife.
