6 Edgar Rice Burroughs first editions are documented on this shelf, from Tarzan of the Apes (1914) to The Land That Time Forgot (1924) across 3 different publishers. Each linked guide gives the points of issue that separate a true first printing of that Edgar Rice Burroughs title from later printings and book-club copies — the publisher and year to expect, the number-line or edition-statement conventions, and the tells that show up in online listings.
Identification only, per the house rule: no prices and no appraisals here. Checking a Edgar Rice Burroughs copy in hand? Type the title into the First-Edition Checker or photograph the copyright page with Snap & Sort.
- Tarzan of the Apes — 1914 · A. C. McClurgTrue first book edition: A. C. McClurg & Co., Chicago, 1914 (the text first appeared serially in All-Story magazine, October 1912). First-state points: on the copyright page (verso of the title leaf) the printer's imprint 'W. F. Hall Printing Company / Chicago' is set in TWO LINES of Old English (gothic/black-letter) type; and the first-state binding is WITHOUT the acorn device at the foot of the spine.…. The magazine appearance (All-Story, October 1912) is the first text appearance; the 1914 A. C. McClurg hardcover is the first book edition and the collector's true first. Grosset & Dunlap reprints and all later paperbacks are reprints, not firsts. Do NOT treat the acorn device as a first-state point -- it is the opposite. First state has the two-line 'W. F. Hall Printing Company / Chicago' imprint on the copyright page and NO acorn on the spine; the acorn device at the foot of the spine marks the SECOND and later states. Grosset & Dunlap reprints lack the two-line W. F. Hall imprint altogether. Confirm the W. F. Hall imprint set in Old English type, then….
- The Return of Tarzan — 1915 · A. C. McClurg & Co.First edition, first printing: A. C. McClurg & Co., Chicago, 1915, published 10 March 1915 in a first printing of 15,000 copies. The copyright page reads "Published, March, 1915". Octavo, pp. [1-8] 1-365 [366-368: blank], the final leaf blank. Bound in dark green cloth with the front and spine panels stamped in gold. Twenty-six interior black-and-white headpieces by J. Allen St. John; the dust jacket is by N. C.…. US original; the McClurg (Chicago) 1915 is the true first edition in book form — the census claim is confirmed. The text was serialized in New Story Magazine, June–December 1913. The first British edition is Methuen (London) 1918 — octavo, blue cloth boards lettered in black with a device, 246 pages plus advertisements — confirming the census claim of Methuen 1918. The Methuen is a later, secondary edition;…. A. L. Burt held a contract to reprint the first five Tarzan books and issued The Return of Tarzan from 1916, with annual reprint editions through 1919; Grosset & Dunlap reprints followed. Reprints carry the reprint publisher's imprint at the foot of the spine and on the title page in place of McClurg and typically advertise other Burt or G&D titles; the McClurg copyright statement "Published, March, 1915" is….
- A Princess of Mars — 1917 · A. C. McClurg & Co.First edition, first printing: A. C. McClurg & Co., Chicago, 1917, published 10 October 1917 in a first printing of 10,200 copies. The copyright page (verso of the title leaf) reads "Published October, 1917" with the printer's imprint "W. F. Hall Printing Company, Chicago" at the foot; both must be present. Octavo, pp. [i-vi] vii-xii [xiii-xvi] 1-326 [327] [328: blank]. Bound in dark brown cloth with the front…. US original; the McClurg (Chicago) 1917 is the true first edition in book form and the census claim is correct on this point. The text was serialized as "Under the Moons of Mars" in The All-Story, February–July 1912, five years before book publication and before Tarzan of the Apes (1914) appeared in book form. The census claim of a Methuen 1919 UK first is NOT confirmed and appears to be an error: the ERBzine…. Reprints are the common trap and vastly outnumber the 10,200-copy first (roughly 172,700 copies across all printings). Grosset & Dunlap issued the title from 1918 into the 1940s and A. L. Burt also reprinted it. Reprint copies carry the reprint publisher's imprint at the foot of the spine and on the title page in place of McClurg, and the G&D reprints carry a reduced illustration complement (frontispiece plus….
- The Gods of Mars — 1918 · A. C. McClurg & Co., ChicagoThe true first is Chicago, A. C. McClurg & Co., 1918, issued 28 September 1918. Copyright page of the first printing reads 'Published September, 1918' AND carries the printer credit 'W. F. HALL PRINTING COMPANY, CHICAGO'; reference practice (First Edition Points) treats a copy with the McClurg 1918 title page but WITHOUT the W. F. Hall imprint as a later state, so the Hall credit is the decisive point rather than…. US original — the McClurg Chicago 1918 edition precedes all others and is the true first in book form. The first UK edition is separately collected and should be named: Methuen & Co., London, 1920, with 'First published in Great Britain in 1920' stated on the copyright page, in green cloth lettered black. The text first appeared serially in All-Story, January–May 1913, so the 1918 McClurg is the first book…. Grosset & Dunlap reprinted the title from 1919 onward: the G&D imprint appears at the spine foot and on the title page, and the early Burroughs G&D reprints are bound in the house tan-grey cloth with darker lettering rather than McClurg's red cloth — cloth colour plus imprint is the fastest tell. Separately, later McClurg printings (through 1919) retain the McClurg imprint but lack the W. F. Hall printing credit;….
- At the Earth's Core — 1922 · A. C. McClurg & Co., ChicagoThe true first is Chicago, A. C. McClurg & Co., 1922, issued 22 July 1922. Copyright page of the first printing reads 'Published July, 1922'; dealer descriptions additionally record the printer credit 'M. A. DONOHUE & CO., PRINTERS AND BINDERS, CHICAGO' on the copyright page (consistently reported, but drawn from a common trade description — corroborate against the copy in hand before relying on it alone).…. US original, and the first book of the Pellucidar series — the McClurg Chicago 1922 edition is the true first in book form and precedes any English edition. The text first appeared as a four-part serial in All-Story Weekly, 4–25 April 1914. A Methuen (London) edition is reported to have followed in February 1923; that date rests on a single secondary source here and is NOT independently confirmed — cite the…. Grosset & Dunlap reprinted from 1923 and repeatedly thereafter. The quickest tell is the plate count: the G&D reprints carry only EIGHT interior plates against the McClurg first's nine, alongside the G&D imprint on the title page and at the spine foot. No book-club issue is documented for this title.
- The Land That Time Forgot — 1924 · A. C. McClurg & Co., ChicagoThe true first is Chicago, A. C. McClurg & Co., 1924, issued 14 June 1924. Copyright page of the first printing reads 'Published June, 1924'. Collation: octavo, [1-8] 1-422 [423-424: blank], final leaf blank, with FOUR inserted sepia plates by J. Allen St. John. Binding is original green cloth; sources conflict on the stamping — L. W. Currey records the front and spine panels stamped in black, while other ABA…. US original. The McClurg 1924 volume is an omnibus and is the first book appearance of all three Caspak novellas — 'The Land That Time Forgot', 'The People That Time Forgot' and 'Out of Time's Abyss' — which had appeared separately in Blue Book for August, October and December 1918. The census note of a 'three-part magazine text 1918' is confirmed. A first UK edition from Methuen is claimed for 1925 by the census…. Grosset & Dunlap reprinted in 1925 using the same 422-page text and the St. John jacket, but with only THREE interior plates against the McClurg first's four — plate count plus the G&D imprint is the tell. A second, subtler trap: Ace Books split the omnibus into three separate paperback volumes in 1963, so a volume titled 'The Land That Time Forgot' containing a single novella is a 'first thus' at best and never….
More Literary Fiction (US) & Award Winners shelves: Edith Wharton, Edna Ferber, Edna Lewis, Edward Bulwer-Lytton, Edwidge Danticat, Elizabeth Bowen.
← All authors · All genres · part of the First-Edition Identification resource.