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Post by andydecker on Sept 17, 2023 13:52:04 GMT
The Berkley edition of Robert E. Howard's Conan edited by Karl Edward Wagner in 1977 ranks among the best paperback edition of unexpurgated Howard ever done for mass market. Reason enough to give it its own threads.
The Hour of the Dragon (Berkley Medallion, August 1977, 296 pages)
Contents: Foreword (The Hour of the Dragon) by Karl Edward Wagner
The Hour of the Dragon
Afterword (The Hour of the Dragon)
In the edition done by Sprague DeCamp The Hour of the Dragon it is titled Conan the Conqueror. The People of the Black Circle (Berkley Medallion, September 1977, 295 pages)
Contents: Foreword (The People of the Black Circle) by Karl Edward Wagner
The Hyborean World (Map) by John Mayer
The Devil in Iron (1934)
The People of the Black Circle (1934)
A Witch Shall Be Born (1934)
Jewels of Gwahlur (1935)
Afterword by Karl Edward WagnerRed Nails (Berkley Medallion, September 1977, 293 pages)
Contents: Foreword (Red Nails) by Karl Edward Wagner
The Hyborean World (Map) by John Mayer
Beyond the Black River (1935)
Shadows in Zamboula (1935)
Red Nails (1936)
The Hyborian Age (1936)
Afterword (Red Nails) Karl Edward WagnerCover artwork all by Ken Kelly. These books appeared in different editions. The first printing had those colour fold out posters included, the second edition did not. 1979 there was a hardcover edition. The afterwords are very well done and in the decades before the internet full of information which was not easily (or at all) available for the casual reader. From the dynamic cover art and the mini posters to the reproduction of Weird Tales illustrations, this could and should have been a definite edition of the original Conan material as it appeared in WT, not the edited version of Lancer Books. But the series was abandoned by Berkley for various reasons. It is complicated, a good account can still be found here. You just have to scroll a bit. Before Del Rey published its Howard edition decades later, Karl Edward Wagner was the first to offer the definite Howard texts for a big audience. |
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Post by Jojo Lapin X on Sept 17, 2023 19:05:26 GMT
Did you edit your post? I feel I saw the word "authorized" in there earlier. I could be mistaken, but if you did you have cheated me of some cheap, harmless amusement of the kind I enjoy so much.
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Post by Jojo Lapin X on Sept 17, 2023 19:14:23 GMT
Also: say what you will about de Camp's editing, amending, and general fiddling about, but were it not for his efforts (and Frank Frazetta) Howard would be completely forgotten today. I am naming all my sons, should I have any---which admittedly seems unlikely at this point---"Sprague" in his honor.
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Post by andydecker on Sept 17, 2023 21:11:26 GMT
Did you edit your post? I feel I saw the word "authorized" in there earlier. I could be mistaken, but if you did you have cheated me of some cheap, harmless amusement of the kind I enjoy so much. It is tempting to say no and open the rabbit hole wider.  But actually yes. I hated how Imgur blew up the scans. I don't like too big scans. Most uploading services re-size scans for whatever reasons. I deleted the post and made it again with smaller scans. It is possible I changed a few words - my professional proofreading editor had his free day, you know - but can't remember exactly. Also: say what you will about de Camp's editing, amending, and general fiddling about, but were it not for his efforts (and Frank Frazetta) Howard would be completely forgotten today. I am naming all my sons, should I have any---which admittedly seems unlikely at this point---"Sprague" in his honor. The age-old debate. ;-) Considering that those nameless editors of Lancer who made the edition in the first place possible are always forgotten I guess the argument has some merit. I would rate Frazetta actually much higher than DeCamp. Howard could have been edited by Donald Wollheim into this edition, and with Frazetta it still would have put Howard again on the map.
The only of DeCamp's actual re-writing I compared is Howard's The Black Stranger, which he forced into his tiresome chronology with a new and dull ending. He made it into a truly forgettable tale, but if one is fair it wasn't much was to begin with. I perceive DeCamp as a not very original writer who saw a good opportunity to make money by exploiting a much better writer. I have no good word at all for August Derleth's small-minded re-imagining of Lovecraft, but at least he had respect if not downright love for HPLs work. DeCamp has shown nothing like that for Howard - on the contrary.
Yes, you would name him "Sprague", wouldn't you?
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Post by jamesdoig on Sept 18, 2023 6:57:06 GMT
The Berkley edition of Robert E. Howard's Conan edited by Karl Edward Wagner in 1977 ranks among the best paperback edition of unexpurgated Howard ever done for mass market. Glen Lord's The Last Celt was published by Berkley in the same uniform format - it's an excellent book about REH with a full bibliography. My only gripe with the edition is that the glue becomes brittle over time and so the spine cracks easily. |
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Post by andydecker on Sept 18, 2023 7:53:54 GMT
Glen Lord's The Last Celt was published by Berkley in the same uniform format - it's an excellent book about REH with a full bibliography. My only gripe with the edition is that the glue becomes brittle over time and so the spine cracks easily. I had some luck in this with my Berkley's, but a few others begin to develop this problem and become brittle. The most damage I experienced with paperbacks so far is the bleaching of the spine. Some spines have become blank. Paperbacks were not produced for posterity, it is a small wonder so many survived 50 years or more.
The Last Celt is one I missed. But I have most of the rest of the Howard Berkley's. I don't want to post too much Fantasy or random SF in the Vault, but maybe these would merit some scans.
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Post by Knygathin on Sept 18, 2023 10:48:15 GMT
The most damage I experienced with paperbacks so far is the bleaching of the spine. Some spines have become blank. Alas, sunshine and daylight, the enemy of all books. |
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Post by andydecker on Sept 18, 2023 15:14:38 GMT
The most damage I experienced with paperbacks so far is the bleaching of the spine. Some spines have become blank. Alas, sunshine and daylight, the enemy of all books. Indeed. It is not that they stood before a window without drapes, but in some corner. I seem to remember that the colour of the font was orange or yellow or something, very sensitive. The stronger colours didn't have this problem as can be seen. |
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Post by samdawson on Sept 19, 2023 16:01:15 GMT
Alas, sunshine and daylight, the enemy of all books. Being dropped in the bath doesn't do them much good either
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Post by šrincess šµuvstarr on Sept 20, 2023 14:40:16 GMT
Did you edit your post? I feel I saw the word "authorized" in there earlier. I could be mistaken, but if you did you have cheated me of some cheap, harmless amusement of the kind I enjoy so much. It is tempting to say no and open the rabbit hole wider. But actually yes. I hated how Imgur blew up the scans. I don't like too big scans. Most uploading services re-size scans for whatever reasons. I deleted the post and made it again with smaller scans. It is possible I changed a few words - my professional proofreading editor had his free day, you know - but can't remember exactly.
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But actually yes. I hated how Imgur blew up the scans. I don't like too big scans. Most uploading services re-size scans for whatever reasons. I deleted the post and made it again with smaller scans. It is possible I changed a few words - my professional proofreading editor had his free day, you know - but can't remember exactly.
