ALTERNATE TIMELINE™ DUST-JACKETS

NOT EVERYONE is as finicky as I am. There are just a few changes I would have made if I had been the Art Director at McClurg, Metropolitan or Canaveral Press. In the case of Canaveral Press, if I'd had the budget! Of course, there were reasons why these jackets weren't produced like this at the time, but that's no problem for this revisionist designer.

WHAT MAKES THESE alternate dust-jackets different is the attention paid to historical accuracy in the title lettering and cover art choices. SAVAGE PELLUCIDAR and JOHN CARTER OF MARS use the pulp magazine cover art that was intended for these books, but was never used. THUVIA and FIGHTING MAN use the cover art that might have been used if issues with the publisher or with ERB himself hadn't arisen and forced the designs to a fall-back position. Title lettering on all of these jackets is either taken from the original or has significance in its relationship to the book. I believe these jackets have historical viability in that they offer something that almost certainly WOULD HAVE BEEN if circumstances had allowed. Consider them "Alternate Timeline Dust-jackets."

THESE ARE FOR the hard-core collector who wants to indulge in a little wish fulfillment. All are full-size and include the complete original text on back covers and end flaps. The four limited edition jackets come with limited edition alternate bookmarks and are inscribed, numbered, signed and dated on the back side.

Scroll down to see all the Alternate Timeline jackets. The first five are open edition jackets for Canaveral Press first editions. Two, TARZAN AND THE CASTAWAYS and SAVAGE PELLUCIDAR, were originally offered by Recoverings as limited editions. Now, with changes to titling typography, the jackets will be available indefinitely. JOHN CARTER OF MARS is still available as a limited edition and when it's gone, it may not be back. Farther down the page you'll find the full-color version of Gil Kane's cover for the only hardcover edition of BEYOND THIRTY AND THE MAN-EATER. Below that are the three limited edition jackets for THE WAR CHIEF, A FIGHTING MAN OF MARS and THUVIA, MAID OF MARS. When those have reached their limitation numbers, they will not be reprinted or offered again. I hope you'll take the time to read the descriptions and think about adding them to your library.

Tarzan swings through the trees

TARZAN AND THE MADMAN: 1964. Cover by Reed Crandall

Biblo and Tannen, probably with the help of Roy Krenkel and Dick Lupoff, brought Reed Crandall on to illustrate two novels in 1964, TARZAN AND THE MADMAN and JOHN CARTER OF MARS. Crandall was already working steady for "Treasure Chest" a religious comic book, as well as some gigs from "Classics Illustrated." The MADMAN illustrations are pure Crandall with all the grace and realism he's known for. I've used a full-color print of the art used on ERB-dom No. 13, April, 1965, as a guide to the coloring, and for the technique Crandall used for the foliage. Click the image for a closeup of the art.
— Open Edition: $32.00

Tarzan and the Tarzan Twins start a trek over the veldt

Tarzan and the Tarzan Twins: 1964. Cover by Roy G. Krenkel

Though written two years apart, the two stories, THE TARZAN TWINS and TARZAN AND THE TARZAN TWINS WITH JAD-BAL-JA, THE GOLDEN LION are actually one novel. The action takes place between TARZAN AND THE GOLDEN LION and TARZAN AND THE ANT MEN. This was Roy Krenkel's third cover for Canaveral Press, published in November of 1963 while he was still doing covers for the Ace Books Burroughs reprints. If you haven't bothered with picking up a copy of this book, thinking it too juvenile, you'd be surprised. With some judicious and sensitve fixes by Canaveral Editor Dick Lupoff, it's well written and entertaining. Click the image for a closeup of the art.
— Open Edition: $32.00

Tarzan and Princess Itzel Cha escape through the jungle.

Tarzan and the Castaways: 1964. Cover by Frank Frazetta

Ever since Biblo and Tannen placed a banner across the cover art of TARZAN AND THE CASTAWAYS to keep from shocking the public, fans longed to see the famous Frazetta image properly displayed on their copies of the Canaveral Press dust-jacket. Over 100 hours of research, and a careful study of more than 70 different Frazetta watercolors went into this coloring.

I used the same palette and watercolor techniques that Frazetta himself used at that point in his career. I believe this is how the dust-jacket would have looked if Canaveral had had the money to do it right in 1964.

Dick Lupoff, editor for the Canaveral ERB books at the beginning of his career, wrote me after seeing it, “What a brilliant cover! Makes me want to read the book again, for the first time in fifty years! I feel as if Canaveral Press is being reborn…” This sold out almost immediately when it was offered as a limited edition in 2016. Bud Plant liked it so well he used it as a cover on one of his catalogs. With some changes to the typography and the back cover graphic, I'm setting this out as an open edition to match the other Canaveral Tarzan firsts. Click the image for a closeup of the art.
— Open Edition: $32.00

Three stories about a revived caveman, a trip to a new planet, and a new Carson of Venus tale.

Tales of Three Planets: 1964. Cover by Roy G. Krenkel

1963 had been a very busy year for Roy Krenkel. His connection with ACE Books and Don Wolheim had brought him ten more Burroughs covers plus two large jobs from Canaveral Press. In 1964 he did three for ACE and this, TALES OF THREE PLANETS, his last job for Canaveral, all published in the four months of the year. Though Biblo and Tannen were starting to run out of money, Roy, as usual, gave them an abundance of art. Roy did three different cover roughs for the book before this one was approved. He hand-lettered the titling and managed to get representations of all three stories on the cover. Inside are 10 beautifully detailed full page illustrations. I've tried to color this jacket as closely as I could to Roy's palette and included a Krenkel sky in the background. Click the image for a closeup of the art.
— Open Edition: $32.00

A sabre-toothed tiger attacks Bovar, Prince of the Tandars, while Dian the Beautiful escapes.

Savage Pellucidar: 1964. Cover by J. Allen St. John

This was the very first Alternate Timeline dust-jacket. It was suggested to me 20 years ago by the late Pete Ogden, publisher and editor of ERBANIA, one of the oldest and finest Burroughs fanzines. St. John’s cover painting intended for Amazing Stories, April 1942, containing “Tiger Girl,” the third part of the four-part Pellucidar novel, was accidentally set up for the March ’42 issue of sister magazine Fantastic Adventures carrying ERB’s “War on Venus.” I originally published the dust-jacket as a limited edition of 100 which went out of print some years ago. However, I’m still having requests for it. So, with new titling on the cover and spine and some changes to the back cover, I’m releasing it as an open edition for anyone who wants to make sure their copy has ALL the St. John art with it. Click the image for a closeup of the art.
— Open Edition: $32.00

The Giant of Mars swings an uprooted tree at oncoming fliers.

JOHN CARTER OF MARS: 1964. J. Allen St. John/John Coleman Burroughs Edition

This alternate jacket for the Canaveral Press first edition compilation pays a special tribute to two great names connected to the Master of Adventure. First, to J. Allan St. John by using his cover for JOHN CARTER AND THE GIANT OF MARS from the Amazing Stories January, 1941 issue. And secondly, to John Coleman Burroughs, the actual author of that particular tale by using the logo lettering from his John Carter comic strip, a spine illustration from the strip and by emulating his signature in the author byline. The back cover shows reproductions of both the original pulp magazine covers for GIANT and for SKELETON MEN OF JUPITER, the second story in the book. Click the image for a closeup of the art.
— Limited to 100 copies: $36.00 (38 copies available)

Futuristic soldier is confronted by sabretoothed tiger

BEYOND THIRTY and THE MAN-EATER: 1957. Full Color Edition

In 1957 Brad Day, a mail-order bookseller of science fiction and small publisher, brought out the first hardcover edition of a couple of Edgar Rice Burroughs' stories that hadn't seen the light for 42 years. Beyond Thirty had appeared in All Around Magazine in 1916 and The Man-Eater in The New York Evening World newspaper in 1915. Both stories were not republished until 1955, in a run of only 300 copies each—softcover, letter-sized— by Lloyd Arthur Eschbach, founder of Fantasy Press.

Brad Day had been in touch with Gil Kane, comicbook artist, for some time and Kane had done cover art for his checklists of books by Burroughs, Sax Rohmer and Talbot Mundy, as well as several important checklists of fantastic literature. Kane provided a couple of designs for the cover of this book and this was the more dynamic. The cover was printed in black and white only but it has been dying for a simple full color version. Click the image for a closeup of the art.
— Open Edition: $32.00

Click on the image to see a large detail
The War Chief Alternate DJ

THE WAR CHIEF: 1927. Maynard Dixon Edition

ERB WOULD HAVE LOVED THIS ONE!

For over five years I’ve been trying to create an Alternate Timeline dust-jacket for THE WAR CHIEF. Ed Burroughs worked hard on that novel, researched it thoroughly, and said things that were controversial for his day. He thought it was one of his most important stories. Modern critics have agreed with him. It was the first novel to show the war with Geronimo and the Chiricaua Apaches from the "other" side—the Apache side. First rejected and then struggling with attempts to censor it, ERB was disgusted by the “dime-novel” presentation of the book. The cover art by Paul Stahr for Argosy All-Story Weekly was cheaply bought by A.C. McClurg, showing ERB how little they cared for the story. For decades collectors have agreed with Burroughs about the indifference shown by the publisher and wished for a jacket more suitable to its theme.

My Alternate Timeline jackets abide by two main criteria: there must be a need for an alternate, and the alternate must use art and typography created no later than the book's publication date. This new jacket for THE WAR CHIEF is based on art by Maynard Dixon, first an illustrator of western novels and later one of the most loved painters of southwestern themes. Though alterations were necessary to adapt the original as a book jacket, the art, colors and title lettering retain Dixon’s style. Burroughs was hoping McClurg would use J. Allen St. John as the cover artist, and though that’s impossible now, I think he would have been happy if they had given him this substitute.
— Limited to 50 copies signed and numbered: $36.00 (26 available)

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A FIGHTING MAN OF MARS: 1931. Laurence Herndon Edition

This is the jacket using the Blue Book magazine cover art by Laurence Herndon that Max Elsner of Metropolitan Books originally intended for the book. When Elsner suggested using the cover by Herndon, Burroughs mistakenly thought of a promotional ad done by a different artist whose representations of noble Barsoomians he didn't like at all. Ed expressed his dislike and dragged his feet on the idea. Elsner went back to the drawing board and the published jacket used a wrap-around painting by in-house artist Hugh Hutton who would later go on to a long career as a politcal cartoonist. This jacket also features seldom-seen cover art of ERB foreign editions intended to go on the back panel. For the full story read Robert R. Barrett's revealing article in the Burroughs Bulletin #45. Fits the Metropolitan first edition and the Grosset and Dunlap reprints. READ MORE. . .
— Limited to 100 copies: $36.00 (33 available)

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THUVIA, MAID OF MARS: 1920.
J. Allen St. John Edition

I designed this jacket, the second of the Alternate Timeline series, to continue the run of J. Allen St. John covers on the Mars books. Originally I thought an unfinished painting of this scene in the Vinson Collection had been done in the 1920s by St. John as he was expecting to do the jacket art. Later I found out that the painting had actually been started at the request of Vern Coriell, founder of the Burroughs Bibliophiles, sometime in the 1950s. St. John was unable to finish it before he died in 1957.

Since A.C. McClurg & Co. always ordered a black and white copy of the painting being used on the dust-jacket, this powerful image, drawn for the frontispiece of THUVIA, was still well worthy of a color treatment. It fits the A.C. McClurg first edition and the Grosset and Dunlap reprints.

Click the image for a closeup of the art.
— Limited to 100 copies: $36.00 (15 available)


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