We had been out all morning running mum from the doctor, physio and the chemist and we were so buggered that we decided to get some take-away for lunch. Only two people were allowed in the shop due to Covid-19 restrictions so I had the book table to myself.
I took one glance at this and went straight over to the counter and started bartering to buy it. I was very quickly stopped mid sentence and told just take it with you! I did and left a suitable tip!
This is a Ballantyne paperback titled by “A guide to Barsoom” by John Flint Roy published in 1976. The book is a bit tatty and the pages have yellowed by the information inside is pure gold!
I am a big devotee of Edgar Rice Burroughs works and have all of the Barsoom books and most of the Tarzan ones as well.
There are eleven books in the Barsoomian Canon (suitably reverend music playing in the background), these are:
- A Princess of Mars (1912);
- The Gods of Mars (1913);
- The Warlord of Mars (1914);
- Thuvia Maid of Mars (1916);
- The Chessmen of Mars (1922);
- The Mastermind of Mars (1927);
- A Fighting Man of Mars (1931);
- Swords of Mars (1934);
- Synthetic Men of Mars (1939);
- Llana of Gathol (1941);
- John Carter of Mars (1941).
The later is of questionable authorship.
The work is full of illustrations, that I have to say challenged the mental images that I had created as a young teenager when I first read the stories. Some examples:
The book is full of information on the history, geography, religion and customs, and a glossary of terms. I particularly enjoyed the section on quotations:
“The martians are a happy people; they have no lawyers“
“We are between the wild thoat of certainty and the mad zitidar of fact“, which sounds far more poetic than between the “devil and the deep blue sea”.
“You have the disposition of a thoat”. Thoats were well known for their short tempers!
“By my first ancestor” – a Martian oath.
“To be abused by the mistress of one’s heart is better than to be ignored” – see I do have a softer side! Must be the Guru coming though!
I used to have all of the Hinchcliffe Barsoomian figures but am not sure where they are now, probably somewhere in the bottom of the cave in a deep dark fissure.
There are a number of ranges currently out there at the moment including Modiphius, Peter Pig, and Noble Knight, but (and I don’t believe I am saying this) it is not a project that I really want to do. I am happy to just read and re-read the novels.
A great pick up that will forever grace my bookshelves. Grab it if you can even if you are not a devotee.
Not start a project! Has the Guru found wisdom?
Gurus don’t have to find wisdom, they just need to appear to be its home.
This takes me back to buying all those Martian books & his Venus series at Uni in 1981/82 along with the many remarkable stories of Robert E Howard among various others. What a pity the well attempted John Carter film a few years ago wasn’t properly explained to a modern audience. Good pick up oh Guru!
Guru says “wisdom is a journey not a destination, once can never say they have found full enlightenment”.
Thank you acolyte John. I have not seen in you at the temple recently!
Great find Guru! I’ve read a few of those books, and they are really good reads, ERB is one of the great adventure storytellers, the movie of a few years back was very good I thought and I would have liked to see more (have you seen the “ropey” “Princess of Mars” that came out just after it with Traci Lords as Deja Thoris?, I’d even take more of those (any John Carter is better than none!, just).
You did miss one manufacturer out of your list Tinman Miniatures do in my opinion the nicest “not” John Carter range, I have a few of them, plus the Peter Pig 15mm ones.
Cheers Roger
Nice find.
Cheers,
Pete.
That’s a brilliant find! 🙂
No brilliance involved just hunger.
I have seven of the Mars/Venus paperbacks on my pulp scifi shelf, and re-read them every now and again to remind myself that the past truly was a different planet 🙂
Regards, Chris.