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.
Charlie Madison created a fantasy variant dust jacket for the first edition using
the Emmett Watson magazine illustration. Buy one at his website.
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