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Volume 0736
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present
J. Allen St. John wraparound: Swords of Mars - 5 interiors
DJ Image
Larger Cover by St. John
Cover art
SWORDS OF MARS
Written in November-December 1933
"To Florence with all My Love Ed"
Dedication in form of an acrostic from the first letter of every chapter
ERBzine Guide to Barsoom
www.johncarterofmars.ca
Read the e-Text Edition HERE

PUBLISHING HISTORY (USA)
PULP
Blue Book Magazine: 1934 November, December ~ 1935: January-April
    Joseph Chenoweth: December cover ~ Ondrek Zaula or Henry Soulen: January cover ~ Robert Fink: six interiors
FIRST EDITION
ERB, Inc. Tarzana: February 15, 1936 ~ 315 pages ~ Print Run: 4,000 ~ Heins word count: 78,000
    J. Allen St. John: wraparound DJ and five interior plates
REPRINT EDITIONS
Grosset & Dunlap: 1937
Grosset & Dunlap: 1938 ~ St. John DJ and only two interiors
ERB, Inc. Tarzana: 1940 ~ St. John DJ and only one interior
ERB, Inc. Tarzana: March 26, 1948
Ballantine paperback: May 1963 ~ 191 pages
    Robert Abbett cover
Ballantine paperback: October 1973
    Gino D'Achille cover
Doubleday Science-Fiction Book Club: January 1975 ~ with Synthetic Men of Mars ~ 345 pages
    Frank Frazetta: DJ and six interiors
Ballantine - Del Rey paperback: April 1979
    Michael Whelan cover
For detailed information, see Robert B. Zeuschner's
Edgar Rice Burroughs: The Bibliography (ERB, Inc., 2016).
Click on www.erbbooks.com or call 214-405-6741 to order a copy.

Swords of Mars
Disguised as a mercenary warrior, John Carter sought to break the power of the Assassins of Zodanga. Spying on their councils, the Warlord discovered a plot to kidnap his beloved Dejah Thoris. But it was to late to save her. She was already in space, on the way to Thuria, Barsoom's nearer moon!

There was no reply to my call of "Koar! " Yet, though all was silent, and there were no faces at the many windows of the strange castle on Thuria, I could have sworn that eyes were all around, watching us. We had crossed half the distance from the spaceship to the castle door when the silence was shattered by a terror-ridden scream. "Escape from this horror place while you may!" It was the voice of Dejah Thoris. I halted, stunned-and then invisible hands seized Swords of Mars us, tearing our weapons from our grasp.

.
As seen in one of our collections of ERB book inscriptions,
www.erbzine.com/mag7/0782.html
ERB dedicated numerous books to Florence.
The one shown here - a dedication in LOST ON VENUS - is typical.
Ed took this habit of dedications a huge step forward, however,
when he concealed a love note in the actual text of his book, SWORDS OF MARS
"To Florence With All My Love Ed"

Burroughs created that acrostic message to Florence Gilbert Dearholt in SWORDS OF MARS, using the first letter of the Prologue and each of the twenty-four chapters. He wrote the novel in November and December, 1933, which was on the brink of his separation and divorce from Emma. "Blue Book Magazine" serialized SWORDS in six, monthly installments, beginning in November, 1934.

Meanwhile, Ed Burroughs and Ashton Dearholt (Florence's future ex-husband) remained close friends and even entered into a new business partnership. Ashton had developed a romantic attraction to a young actress, and the four of them often socialized together. Ed and Emma were divorced in November, 1934; he and Florence announced their engagement in December. (See the "Edgar Rice Burroughs Bio Timeline, 1930-39" at ERBzine: http://www.erbzine.com/bio/years30.html.)

Although Florence was – or certainly soon became – aware of the acrostic, it seems that the public may not have caught on until Irwin Porges' Burroughs biography was published during the 1975 ERB centennial. Porges writes that the acrostic was "revealed in [my] interviews with Ed Gilbert [Florence's brother] and Florence, October 9, 1968 and May 23, 1969." (Porges, p. 763, note 18)

.
PULP COVER GALLERY
Ref: ERBzine 0228
Blue Book: December 1934 - Swords of Mars 2/6Blue Book: January 1935 - Swords of Mars 3/6

Collage of all pulp covers for the serial

Click

PULP ART GALLERY

J. ALLEN ST. JOHN ART GALLERY

Swords of Mars preliminary book cover. Charcoal on paper. 13 x 20.5 in


Swords of Mars, preliminary book cover art and ERB DooDad by J. Allen St. John
Mixed media on board ~ 11.75 x 19 in.

Finished dust jacket

He lunged at me viciously.I took Ozara in my arms and jumped.This, he said, is the brain.
A sword flashed inward.It succeeded in eluding him.


FRANK FRAZETTA GALLERY: Doubleday Edition Art
Frazetta cover art for the Doubleday edition: Swords and Synthetic. . . cleaving his skull as I raced past him!
I ran my sword through his heart from behind . . .Her veiled eyes seemed to read my very soul.


Click for full-size collages


GALLERY OF COVER ART
In preparation: Frazetta interiors and Whelan cover
Robert Abbett art: Ballantine 1963Gino D'Achille art: Ballantine 1973WhelanFrank Frazetta art: Doubleday edition 1975Swords of Mars: Japanese edition


Michael Whelan Del Rey Cover from the Laurence Dunn collection


Gino D'Achille cover art


JAPANESE EDITION
Swords of Mars Japananese Art by Motoichiro Takebe
https://www.erbzine.com/mag67/6714.html

Swordsman of Mars


Click for full-size promo splash bars




Web Refs
ERB C.H.A.S.E.R. Online Encyclopedia
Hillman ERB Cosmos
Patrick Ewing's First Edition Determinors
John Coleman Burroughs Tribute
ERBList Summary by David Adams
J. Allen St. John Bio, Gallery & Links
Edgar Rice Burroughs: LifeLine Biography
Bob Zeuschner's ERB Bibliography
J.G. Huckenpohler's ERB Checklist
Burroughs Bibliophiles Bulletin
ERBzine Guide to Barsoom
G. T. McWhorter's Burroughs Bulletin Index
Illustrated Bibliography of ERB Pulp Magazines
Phil Normand's Recoverings
ERBzine Weekly Online Fanzine
ERB Emporium: Collectibles ~ Comics ~ BLBs ~ Pulps ~ Cards
ERBVILLE: ERB Public Domain Stories in PDF
Clark A. Brady's Burroughs Cyclopedia
Heins' Golden Anniversary Bibliography of Edgar Rice Burroughs
Bradford M. Day's Edgar Rice Burroughs: A Bibliography
.
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