Back to the Stone Age

by Edgar Rice Burroughs

Publishing History/Plot Summary

The story was written from January 26 to September 11, 1935 as Back to the Stone Age, A Romance of the Inner World (80,000 words). This was six years after Tarzan at the Earth’s Core. 

It appeared first as a six-part bi-weekly serial in Argosy on January 9, 16, 23, 30, and February 6 and 13, 1937 as Seven Worlds to Conquer. Argosy paid $1500 for the story; Blue Book had offered $1000, and Liberty had rejected it. The cover art for the first part is by Emmett Watson. There is a headpiece illustration by Samuel G. Cahan in each issue.

It was first published as a book on September 15, 1937 by Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc. ERB edited the story for this publication, removing the preface that was in the magazine version. This hardcover has a dust jacket illustration and seven plates by the author’s son, John Coleman Burroughs. The book cover is blue with red lettering.

Remainders of the first edition were sold with Grosset & Dunlap dust jackets. This "mixed edition" came out in 1939.

1963 Ace paperback with cover and title page drawing by Roy Krenkel - Frank Frazetta assisted with the cover (three printings).

1963 Canaveral Press hardcover with dust jacket by Sam Sigaloff and seven plates by John Coleman Burroughs - The book cover is yellow with red lettering.

1973 Ace paperback with cover by Frazetta (seven printings)

1990 Ballantine-Del Rey paperback with cover by David Mattingly (one printing)

Please send me any pictures I am missing. Thanks.

Caught up in the huge animal drive and subsequent stampede described in the previous story, Lieutenant Wilhelm von Horst and Muviro and his warriors become separated from Jason Gridley and soon lose their way in the confusing land. Von Horst then becomes separated from the Waziri while hunting.

A trodon pounces upon von Horst and carries him to its cone-shaped nest where it paralyzes him from the neck down with its poison tongue. He is left as food for its young. When the paralysis wears off, von Horst escapes the nest, taking a new friend, Dangar of Sari, with him. Von Horst meets Skruf of Basti and when Dangar's paralysis wears off, they journey to Skruf's home. Von Horst and Dangar kill a tarag while Skruf hides, but then he cuts off the head as a trophy to win his mate. Skruf betrays the two when they arrive at Basti, and they are enslaved. When Skruf comes to claim the slave girl, La-ja, as his mate, von Horst does not permit it and stages a slave uprising with the help of Thorek, a mammoth-man. The slaves escape and each decides to go their own way. Dangar travels with von Horst and La-ja who have a typical Burroughs romantic misunderstanding. Dangar breaks off for Sari, and the other two continue toward Lo-har.

The path leads through the foreboding Forest of Death. Von Horst kills a young zarith. Later, they are captured by the cavern-dwelling Gorbuses. These white-skinned people have fleeting memories of a former world in which they were all murderers. They use some English words. They plan to eat the two prisoners after they've been fattened. Shortly, two more gilaks are imprisoned with them: Skruf and Frug of Basti! The four manage to escape while the Gorbuses are sleeping, then the Bastians kidnap La-ja. Von Horst pursues. He happens upon a mammoth caught in a trap and cautiously frees him. Finally, he catches up to the three who are being pursued by mammoth-men. Von Horst attacks Frug, then the two are captured. Skruf and La-ja elude the mammoth-men.

Von Horst is a prisoner in Ja-ru for some time while he awaits his eventual fate in "the little canyon." He learns of the attempts to capture Ah Ara, Ma Rahna, Old White, The Killer, the same mammoth that von Horst freed from the trap. This wise old mammoth is eventually captured but is unable to be trained. Von Horst becomes friendly with the mother and daughter of the family guarding him. He aids Mumal and Lotai in their escape, as they desire to go to Sari. Before this, Thorek returns to Ja-ru but is unsuccessful in convincing chief Mamth that von Horst should be spared.

Finally the day comes for the games in the little canyon. Von Horst, Frug, and three other prisoners are lowered into the natural arena to battle tarags and mammoths. Daj, a warrior from Lo-har, kills Frug for his past sin of stealing La-ja, the daughter of his chief. During the battle, a couple of the prisoners escape at the upper end of the canyon through a little known trail. Von Horst is about to be killed by a tarag when a mammoth intervenes. It's Old White! The mammoth seems to remember von Horst and sets him on his back and charges through a massive gate of logs to freedom.

Von Horst decides to go to Lo-har to find La-ja. Old White faithfully follows. Eventually they come upon a group of bison-men trying to capture La-ja and Skruf. Von Horst wounds Skruf with an arrow during the skirmish, but eventually von Horst and La-ja are captured by the bison-men. As von Horst is about to be tortured, the two escape with the aid of Old White who has managed to find them. They set off for Lo-har.

La-ja deserts von Horst while he sleeps, continuing their romantic misunderstanding. Old White also disappears. Von Horst then meets Daj, one of his fellow captives from the little canyon. Daj agrees to take him to Lo-har. They arrive to find Gaz, who has always lusted for La-ja, trying to forcibly take her. Von Horst fights and kills Gaz and takes the girl as his mate.

Having killed the temporary chief, von Horst rules in Lo-har now. After a period of time, a company of strangers arrives. It is Dangar, Thorek, Lotai, Mumal, and warriors of Sari led by David Innes. Jason Gridley had decided to return to the outer crust only after Innes promised to search for von Horst. Von Horst decides that he is content to stay in Lo-har with his little, yellow-haired cave-girl.

Links

Back to the Stone Age (ERBzine # 745)

chapter summary (ERBlist)

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        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       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 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       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)

von Horst's Pellucidar established 12-25-98