At the Earth's Core
by Edgar Rice Burroughs
Publishing History/Plot Summary
Last updated 07/19/10
The story was written January
to February 1913 as The Inner World (37,000 words).
It appeared first as a four-part serial in All-Story Weekly April 4, 11, 18, and 25, 1914 as At the Earth's Core. The first part has a Pellucidar cover by Modest Stein. There is a headpiece illustration in each part by T. Victor Hall.
It
was serialized in six installments in the newspaper, New York Evening World
(New York), from June 8-13, 1914. There is a picture of Burroughs in each part.
It appeared in the newspaper, Philadelphia Public Ledger (Philadelphia), February 26, 1916 with illustrations by Hanlon.
It was first published as a book July 22, 1922 by A.C. McClurg & Co. It has a dust jacket and nine interior plates by J. Allen St. John. The book cover is gray with black lettering.
Additional
newspaper serializations:
q
The
Post Telegram,
Camden, New Jersey, December 1922
q
Dubuque
Times-Journal,
Dubuque, Iowa, December 1922
q
The
Hawk Eye,
Burlington, Iowa, January 1923
q
The
Republican,
Springfield, Missouri, January 1923
q
Seattle
Times,
Seattle, Washington, January 1923
q
Tacoma
News-Tribune,
Tacoma, Washington, January 1923
q
Fond du
Lac Commonwealth Reporter,
Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, January 1923
q The Detroit Journal, Detroit, Michigan, date unknown
The first Grosset & Dunlap hardcover appeared in 1923. It has the same St. John painting on the dust jacket as the first edition. The book cover is red with black lettering. G & D reprinted the book about twenty-one times, the last in 1938. Printings before the mid-thirties contain eight St. John plates.
The story appeared as Lost Inside the Earth in three parts in the monthly magazine, Modern Mechanics and Inventions, in February, March, and April 1929. None of the issues have Pellucidar covers. There are two red/white illustrations in each issue by C. Saunders and a photograph of Burroughs in the first. The April issue also contains the first part of another Burroughs story: Carter of the Red Planet (A Princess of Mars).
1962 Ace paperback with cover and title page drawing by Roy Krenkel (four printings)
1962
Canaveral hardcover with dust jacket and seven interior illustrations by
Mahlon Blaine - The book cover is tan with black lettering.
1963 Dover trade paperback with cover and twelve illustrations by St. John and one illustration by Paul Berdanier - This book also contains the stories Pellucidar and Tanar of Pellucidar (six printings).
1963 Peter Smith hardcover - This edition has no dust jacket and is identical to the Dover paperback. The book’s cover is red with black lettering.
1972 Ace paperback with cover by Frank Frazetta (six printings)
1976 Ace paperback with cover from the film (one printing)
1976 Doubleday Science Fiction Book Club hardcover with dust jacket from the film - The book cover is black with silver lettering. There are eight movie stills within.
1978 Ace paperback with the same illustration by Frazetta as the 1972 edition except the painting covers the entire front cover and spine (four printings)
1990 Ballantine-Del Rey paperback with cover by David Mattingly (two printings)
1996 Easton Press hardcover of At the Earth's Core and A Princess of Mars - It has two full color frontispieces and black and white drawings by Ron Miller. There is an introduction by L. Sprague de Camp. No dust jacket. The leather bound book cover is dark green with gold lettering. This edition was reprinted in 2005 with a slightly different spine decoration and a gold ribbon bookmark instead of blue. It was reprinted again in 2009 in a brown cover with gold lettering. It has a different spine decoration and cover illustration than either of the other two editions. The interior is identical.
1996 Heritage Press hardcover of At the Earth's Core and A Princess of Mars - The book is in a slipcase with no dust jacket. It has two full color frontispieces and black and white drawings by Ron Miller. There is an introduction by L. Sprague de Camp. The book cover is green with gold lettering.
1997 Blue Unicorn paperback of At the Earth's Core and Out of Time's Abyss
2000 Bison Books trade paperback with cover, frontispiece, and seven interior plates by St. John - Burroughs’ map is included (my map #1 in the article, No Homing Instinct Required). There is an introduction by Gregory A. Benford, an afterword by Phillip R. Burger, and a glossary by Scott Tracy Griffin. Also included is a review of the first edition from the August 1922 New York Times. The book is still available at www.nebraskapress.unl.edu.
2000 Quiet Vision with cover by St. John - Available four ways: hardback with dust jacket, library bound, and trade paperback with large or regular print.
2001 Dover trade paperback with cover by Jeff A. Menges
2001
IndyPublish.com print-on-demand hardcover and paperback with generic covers
2002 Wildside Press hardcover - The book cover is dark blue with gold lettering. No cover art or dust jacket. There is an introduction by Amy Sterling Casil. The same introduction appears in the Wildside Press edition of Pellucidar.
2002 Deodand paperback, cover artist unidentified
2003 Tantor Media audio book - Patrick Lawlor narrates this five-CD set, unabridged, at five hours and fourteen minutes. It begins with a two and a half-minute biography of Burroughs. The “Library Edition” is packaged in a durable vinyl case with a riveted metal ring binder and plastic CD sleeves. A clear plastic overlay protects the package cover art: part of the St. John first edition cover illustration, on the front and spine. The audio book is also available in a “Unikeep Package” and a “Slimline (one MP3 on CD) Package” at lower prices. It is still available at www.tantor.com.
2003 Wildside Press paperback with cover by St. John
2004 Kessinger print-on-demand paperback with generic cover – www.kessinger.net
2004 ERBville Press (Jerry Schneider) Lost Inside the Earth – This hardcover contains the original unedited text and artwork of the three 1929 Modern Mechanics and Invention magazines. There are eight interior illustrations by C. Saunders. The book has a new frontispiece by Shaun Hoadley. Bruce Wood created the dust jacket using the same Hoadley illustration. This book is part of the ERBville Press’ Uniform Edition Series.
2005 ERBville Press (Jerry Schneider) Lost Inside the Earth – The contents of this print-on-demand hardcover are identical to that of the 2004 ERBville Press Uniform Edition. The dust jacket is different with art from one of the interior illustrations. The book cover is dark-blue with gold lettering. This book was also published as a paperback the same year. The cover uses the same illustration as does the hardcover’s jacket.
2005 ERBville Press (Jerry Schneider) The Modern Mechanics and Inventions Edgar Rice Burroughs Trilogy - This print-on-demand omnibus contains the original unedited text and artwork of the Modern Mechanics and Invention magazine versions of Conquest of the Moon, Lost Inside the Earth, and Carter of the Red Planet. It was published as a hardcover with dust jacket and as a trade paperback. The hardback’s cover is dark-blue with gold lettering.
2005 1st World Library print-on-demand hardcover and paperback with generic covers – www.1stworldpublishing.com
2005 Incarna 8 ½” x 11” softcover print-on-demand with cover by F. Newton Burcham
2005 Cosimo paperback
2006 Black Cat Press print-on-demand paperback with cover and frontispiece by Ron Miller
2006 ERB Press (Jerry Schneider) - This print-on-demand hardcover is a textural reprint of the Grosset & Dunlap book printing which used the original A. C. McClurg printing plates. It is illustrated with the J. Allen St. John artwork and dust jacket. The book cover is dark-blue with gold lettering.
2007 AudioBookHouse.com – This book is available three ways. There is a print-on-demand 121-page softcover book that measures 8.26” x 11.69”. The book can also be purchased as a download. In addition, an audio book can be downloaded as a 4-hour mp3 file. The book is “read by AudioBookHouse’s David.”
2007 Wilder Publications A Treasury of Edgar Rice Burroughs – This 524-page softcover omnibus contains the first two Pellucidar books as well as seven other books by Edgar Rice Burroughs.
Please send me any pictures I am missing. Thanks.
David
Innes and his inventor friend, Abner Perry, set out on a trial run in Perry's
invention, an iron mole, with hopes of locating new beds of anthracite coal.
Once in motion, however, they are unable to change the prospector's course and
travel five hundred miles toward the center of the Earth. Expecting to meet
eternal fires, the two instead emerge into a new world.
Attacked
by a dyryth, carried off by ape-men, and then captured by Sagoths, David and
Abner’s weird adventures are nonstop.
On
the Sagoth slave march, David meets Dian the Beautiful One, Ghak the Hairy One
and ruler of Sari, and Hooja the Sly One. David offends Dian through a
misunderstanding while defending her from the unwanted advances of Hooja. Hooja
then kidnaps Dian and escapes.
The
Sagoths take David, Ghak, and Perry to the underground Mahar city of Phutra. The
reptilian Mahars are the superior race of Pellucidar. Maleless, they reproduce
through artificial means. The Mahars recapture Hooja, but Dian is not with him
and is apparently still free.
David
escapes Phutra and rescues Ja, the Mezop ruler of Anoroc, from a sea serpent.
David visits Ja's island, and together they secretly observe atrocities in a
Mahar temple. David leaves the island and is attacked by a sithic. Ja saves him
and David returns to Phutra to rescue Perry and Ghak.
Disguised
in Mahar skins, David, Perry, Ghak, and Hooja escape Phutra, stealing the Great
Secret of the Mahars, without which the race is doomed to eventual extinction
because the Secret contains the methods for their reproduction.
A
band of Sagoths pursues the group but is wiped out by a ryth. David becomes lost
in the canyons but then locates and saves Dian from a thipdar. He then has to
fight Jubal the Ugly One who sought to claim Dian for his own and was the reason
she originally fled from Amoz, only to be captured by Sagoths. David kills Jubal
and takes Dian for his mate.
Later,
they meet Dacor and his Thorian mate and make plans for an alliance between Amoz
and Sari to annihilate the Mahars and Sagoths. The four journey to Sari where
David is rejoined with Perry and Ghak. An alliance is formed and David becomes
emperor of Pellucidar. The first battle against the Sagoths and Mahars is fought
and won.
David and Dian decide to return to the outer world to obtain books by which they can bring our world's technology and advancements to Pellucidar. Hooja steals Dian away at the last moment, substituting a Mahar in her place, and sets David off in the prospector at the wrong angle. David surfaces in the Sahara Desert where he tells this story to the author. Edgar Rice Burroughs sends him supplies, books, and 500 miles of wire to establish a telegraph line to Pellucidar. It is unclear if David returns to Pellucidar or is murdered by Arabs.
Links
review in Science Fiction Weekly 4-17-00
Lord Greystoke's Gallery: At the Earth's Core (ERBzine # 431)
At the Earth's Core (ERBzine # 741)
Sources:
q The reproduction dust jacket pictures above are from Bruce Wood's site. These fine reproductions can be purchased there.
q Some of the magazine pictures are from Bill Hillman's Bibliography of Pulp Magazines, an excellent source of information.
q The Exhaustive Scholar's and Collector's Descriptive Bibliography by Robert B. Zeuschner (1996)
q
Bob Zeuschner provided a scan of a Modern Mechanics and Inventions cover.
q
Bibliography
of “Pre-war” ERB Grosset & Dunlap Editions 1918-1941 by Joe Lukes
(2004)
q
Guide
to the Edgar Rice Burroughs Paperbacks Issues
by Lee J. Barrie (1996)
q
A
Golden Anniversary Bibliography of Edgar Rice Burroughs
by Henry Hardy Heins (2001)
q
Newspaper
Serialization of Stories by Edgar Rice Burroughs by Brad Bowman from Tarzine
#41, 1985
q
Price
and Reference Guide to books written by Edgar Rice Burroughs
by James A. Bergen, Jr. (1991)
q
Findings
On Collecting Ace Paperback Books for 29 Years by Bill Ross from ERB
Collector #48
q
The
Edgar Rice Burroughs Collector's Pocket Checklist
by J. G. Huckenpöhler
q
The
Newspapering of Edgar Rice Burroughs
by Robert R. Barrett from the Burroughs Bulletin New Series #61, Winter
2005
q
The
Munsey Heading Artists and Illustrators by
Robert R. Barrett from the Burroughs Bulletin New Series #68, Fall 2006
q
ERB’s
Pulp Art Paychecks
by Robert R. Barrett from the Burroughs Bulletin New Series #69, Winter
2007
q
Edgar
Rice Burroughs: The Man Who Created Tarzan
by Irwin Porges (1976)
q
The
Burroughs Bulletin New Series #43, #44, #58, and #64
q
ERBzine
#0741 at www.erbzine.com/mag7/0741.html
q
The
Cathne*Courier
by James F. Thompson from ERB-APA #92, Winter 2007
q
Rating
the ERB Books
by George Alonso from ERB-APA #40, Winter 1993
q
Master
of Adventure: The Worlds of Edgar Rice Burroughs
by Richard A. Lupoff (1965)
q
Jerry
Schneider provided information on the ERBville Press editions.
q
Bill
Ross allowed me to examine and photograph his copy of the Peter Smith hardback.
Thanks!
von Horst's Pellucidar established 12-25-98