ERBzine 8210: Martin: TJE RED TARZANS

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Volume 8210

RED TARZANS:
A UNIQUE PUBLISHING VENTURE OF ERB INK
by
JOHN 'BRIDGE' MARTIN

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A few decades ago, a fellow fan mentioned "the red Tarzanas" to me. Although I then became aware of their existence, I had no particular desire to try to collect them. However, having pretty much fulfilled my collecting desires in other editions, I began to be intrigued by the idea of getting all seven of these.

It was 1940 -- 85 years ago -- and Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc., having found some success in publishing his first edition books themselves, decided to experiment with the idea of publishing less expensive reprints as well, instead of farming the job out to Grosset & Dunlap.

The above paragraph is an assumption on my part, because actual information seems to be scarce on the motivation of ERB Ink to do this.

<> I tried doing an internet search of the term "red Tarzana" or "red Tarzanas" and pretty much came up empty. I could find no articles on this particular subject, other than brief notations here and there. But, for whatever reason, here's what the company did: It published several of ERB's books -- seven to be precise -- in red binding with blue lettering, all at the same time.

The seven were:

Tarzan and the Lion Man

Tarzan and the Leopard Men

Tarzan's Quest

...

This was likely an experiment to see how well these volumes would sell. The price for an ERB Ink first edition was $2. The G&D reprints sold for 75 cents. It is likely that the 1940 ERB Ink reprints sold for around 75 cents as well. Henry Hardy Heins wrote, in A Golden Anniversary Bibliography of Edgar Rice Burroughs:
“Various price lists of the early 1940’s indicate that ERBInc was selling this title for 75 cents at that time, but their reprints do not indicate whether this was their own edition or Grosset & Dunlap’s.”

Of the actual ERB Ink first editions, most were bound in dark blue, with red-orange lettering on the cover and spine. There were two exceptions: Tarzan and the Lion Man and The Deputy Sheriff of Comanche County were both published in textured grey binding.

The red Tarzanas were designed very much like the first editions, but the cover colors were reversed. The binding was red, instead of blue, and the lettering was blue.

These volumes had a thickness close to that of the first editions, and could be mistaken for a G&D reprint, if not for these things: First, the name of the publisher at the bottom of the spine of a red Tarzana was Burroughs. The name at the bottom of the spine for a G&D was, of course, Grosset & Dunlap. Additionally, the red G&Ds had cover and spine wording in black ink, rather than blue, like the red Tarzanas. The title page of each shows Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc., Tarzana, California, as the publisher.

Some of the ERB Ink red Tarzanas had additional decorations on the spines or fronts, but most G&Ds did not have these.

I sent an email to ERB Ink asking if they had any more information on the red Tarzanas but did not receive a reply. Rather than continuing to pester them, I decided to go ahead and write my article (this article originally appeared in the Spring 2025 edition of ERBapa) with what information I had been able to gather. Who knows? Maybe someone who reads this will have more information they can share with us all.

Whatever the reason, ERB Ink did not continue its red Tarzana line. Perhaps sales were not what was anticipated. Or perhaps the onset of World War II was a factor. ERB himself was in Hawaii when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor in 1941, and shortly thereafter he was busy as a war correspondent.

Eventually, ERB Ink did reprint more of its books. This was eight years later, in 1948, and these books were thinner than the firsts and the red Tarzanas, an indication that they were printed on even less costly paper than the earlier volumes. These1948 books are bound in grey or similar hues.

Like the 1940 reprints, the 1948 books do not have a publication date inside. The only dates in these are the original copyright dates, which can be misleading. (Perhaps it is understandable why ebay sellers are sometimes mistaken when they state the year a book was published. Caveat emptor!)

<><> That 1948 reprinting was of 12 Tarzan books -- from Tarzan and the Lost Empire through Tarzan the Magnificent; nine of the Martian books, from Princess to Synthetic Men, and three of the four Venus novels -- from Pirates through Carson. There were no ERB Ink 1948 reprints of Tarzan and "The Foreign Legion," Llana of Gathol or Escape on Venus, probably because all three of those were still available in recent first edition formats. No other ERB titles, such as the Pellucidar novels, were included in the 1948 reprints, except for Tarzan at the Earth's Core, since it was part of the Tarzan series, too.

<><> Over the years, I had added to my collection red Tarzanas of Pirates and Lost, just in the normal course of collecting. About a year ago, I decided it would be interesting and fun to see if I could collect the rest. I picked up a copy of Swords of Mars from a guy on Facebook, and added Tarzan and the Leopard Men at the 2024 Mangani fest in Roseville, California. At that event, there was also a dealer who had a jacketed copy of the Tarzan Triumphant red Tarzana. He wanted $400 for it, so I passed. Eventually, I picked up a jacketed copy on Abe Books for 10 times less, $40, which was much more in my price range.

<> I also found reasonably priced copies of Lion Man and Quest on eBay.These red Tarzanas don't show up very often on eBay, and it probably isn't likely that one would find them by searching for "red Tarzana," since many sellers appear to be unfamiliar with the term. I had to set up searches for each individual title and then check the listings regularly to try to figure out if they were red Tarzanas or not. Sometimes the dealers didn't describe them with the detail I needed.

...

<><> But something extra interesting did happen during my year of searching. I ran across a copy that was advertised as a binding error. The binding on the book is that of the Swords of Mars red Tarzana. But, inside, the entire book is another red Tarzana -- Tarzan's Quest! The existence of this volume tells us that, obviously, all seven red Tarzanas were likely printed at the same time and, in the process of sending unbound books to be bound, at least one -- but perhaps more -- copies of Tarzan's Quest were mistakenly bound inside the covers for Swords of Mars.The question, which will probably never be answered, is "how many?"

<> One can also wonder at what went through the mind of the original owner of the book I bought, who anxiously waited for the mailman to bring his copy of Swords of Mars, only to open it and discover the book was Tarzan's Quest! Were several of these printed and sent out unknowingly by ERB Ink? If there were several copies like this, did ERB Ink eventually discover the error themselves, or did an irate customer inform them about the error?

<> If there were several of these error copies, it would be likely that ERB Ink destroyed the faulty copies, or perhaps returned them to the printer to be rebound. Did they save a couple of the mistakes for their archives, or did they get rid of them all? One way to tell if there are more copies with mixups like Swords/Quest is to check your own library for any red Tarzanas you may have. A find of such an error is always good for sharing with other fans!

Just to prove this book actually exists, I took a photo of it at a very odd angle that shows the Swords title on the outer binding and part of the Quest title on the inside.

<> I emailed Robert Zeuschner, author of Edgar Rice Burroughs: The Bibliography. Bob, who is a member of ERBapa, replied to my query, stating that this particular configuration is not listed in his comprehensive bibliography because such things are regarded as "errors," and not as official editions. In his bibliography, in the listings for the seven red Tarzanas, Bob added the same paragraph to the listing for each of these titles:

This edition "...is one of a group of seven reprinted titles bound in red cloth with blue lettering on the cover and spine, including Pirates of Venus, Lost on Venus, Swords of Mars, Tarzan and the Leopard Men, Tarzan and the Lion Man, Tarzan Triumphant and Tarzan's Quest. Collectors refer to these as the red Tarzanas. The dust jackets and frontispiece by J. Allen St. John is identical with the first edition jacket. Two cover cloth variants have been reported. One variant has a woven or pebbled cloth (similar to the first edition of Deputy Sheriff and Tarzan and the Lion Man) and one with a much smoother cloth that is similar in pattern to that of a Grosset & Dunap binding. No priority has been established. Heins notes that each of these seven 1940 printings has a section beginning on page 193 where the paper is darker and browned with age. This suggests that all these red Tarzanas were printed simultaneously."

<> All seven of my red Tarzanas (eight when you add in the Swords/Quest error book) have the section beginning on page 193 with the poorer grade paper that has browned over the years. Since all seven books were reprinted at the printing plant one after the other, one can wonder how the poor quality paper got used and why it shows up in the same spot in each book. Was it deliberate carelessness on the part of the publisher, or an honest mistake? All of mine also are bound with the woven/pebbled cloth.

I enjoyed the process of collecting these. If it is something that you would like to do, don't pay anyone $400 for a copy of Tarzan Triumphant or any other of the red Tarzanas. It might take you a year, but you can probably find them all at reasonable prices by scouting eBay and ERB fan gatherings.

And if you have anything to add about the red Tarzanas, please share your information with fellow fans!

Henry Hardy Heins provided this information about the Red Tarzanas in
"A Golden Anniversary Bibliography of Edgar Rice Burroughs."

An assortment of Burroughs stories in various editions,
from left, a first edition of Tarzan and the Lion Man, a first of Tarzan Triumphant,
the ERB Ink "Red Tarzana" edition of Lost on Venus,
a Grosset & Dunlap edition of Tarzan the Invincible
and a copy of Tarzan and the City of Gold from the 1948 reprint series.
Most of ERB Ink's first editions were published with blue binding,
the exceptions being Lion Man and Deputy Sheriff of Comanche County.

1.Title page design for the Red Tarzanas.
2. Error copy of a Red Tarzana. The outer binding is for Swords of Mars but the book inside is Tarzan's Quest.
Check your own ERB library to see if you own an error book for this or a different title!!

All of the Red Tarzanas have a signature with poorer quality paper beginning at page 193.
The inconsistency may not have been noticed when the books were first published
but as time went by the substandard pages began to age and fade in color.

Enjoy John Martin's Many ERBzine Essays at:
https://www.ERBzine.com/martin