Author: Edgar Rice "E R" Burroughs (1875-1950) signed
Year: 1934-1964
Publisher: Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc. and Canaveral Press
Place: Tarzana and New York
Description:
Pirates of Venus: 314+[1 ad] pages with frontispiece and illustrations. Small octavo (7 1/2" x 5") bound in original publisher's blue pebble cloth with red letting to spine and cover. Lost on Venus: 318+[1 ad] pages with frontispiece and illustrations. Small octavo (7 3/4" x 5 1/4") bound in original publisher's blue pebble cloth with red letting to spine and cover. Carson of Venus: 312+[1 ad] pages with frontispiece and illustrations. . Small octavo (7 3/4" x 5 1/4") bound in original publisher's royal blue pebbled cloth lettered in red, red top edge, Escape on Venus: 347 pages with frontispiece and illustrations.. Small octavo (7 3/4" x 5 1/4") bound in original publisher's blue cloth with red lettering to spine and cover. The Wizard of Venus: 205-282 pages illustrated by Roy G Krenkel, all with illustrated endpapers of map of Amtor; all in original pictorial dust jackets. Included a signed typed letter from Burroughs. one page, (8. 1/2" x 11"), Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc. letterhead, April 4, 1938. Letter to William L. Kiernan, in full: "It affords me a great deal of pleasure to append my autograph hereto for your collection." (Currey p. 87; Heins CV–1 (V3); Zeuschner 70) First editions.
Pirates of Venus, the first book in the Venus series (also called the "Carson Napier of Venus series"), the last major series in Burroughs's career It was first serialized in six parts in Argosy in 1932 and published in book form two years later. Lost On Venus, the second book in the Venus series was first serialized in the magazine Argosy in 1933 and published in book form two years later. Carson of Venus, the third book in the Venus series wich Burroughs wrote in July and August 1937. It was serialized in 1938 in six weekly installments in Argosy, the same publication where the previous two Venus novels appeared. It was published in book form a year later.
The Wizard of Venus was first published in the 1964 Burroughs collection Tales of Three Planets together with the unrelated tales The Resurrection of Jimber-Jaw, Beyond the Farthest Star (novel)" and Tangor Returns. Afterwards it appeared in the collection The Wizard of Venus (Ace Books, August 1970).
The Amtor or Venus Series is a science fantasy series consisting of four novels and one novelette written by American author Edgar Rice Burroughs. Most of the stories were first serialized in Argosy, an American pulp magazine. It is sometimes known as the Carson Napier of Venus Series, after its main character, Carson Napier. Napier attempted a solo voyage to Mars, but, because of mistaken navigational calculations, he finds himself heading toward the planet Venus instead. The novels, part of the Sword and Planet subgenre of science fiction, follow earthman Napier's fantastic adventures after he crash-lands on Venus, called Amtor by its human-like inhabitants. Unlike Barsoom, the desert planet of Mars, these stories are set upon a waterworld like Earth. Most of the events of the series take place on the island of Vepaja, the kingdom of Korva on the island of Anlap, and the city-states of Havatoo and Kormor on the tropical continent north of Vepaja.
As is common in Burroughs' works, the hero is bold and daring, and quickly wins the heart of the Vepajan princess (or janjong) Duare, though class prejudices long inhibit her from expressing her love. Napier meets many varied peoples, including the Vepajans, refugees from an overthrown empire; the Thorists, thinly disguised communists who ran the Vepajans out of what is now the Thoran empire; pirates; the super-scientific eugenicists of Havatoo; the zombies of Kormor; the fascistic Zanis of Korva; and the hideous Cloud People.
Condition:
Pirates of Venus: Previous owner's name to front pastedown and end paper, light rubbing to extremities. Lost on Venus: Corners gently bumped. Carson of Venus:
Jacket with light edge wear. Escape on Venus: Spine ends and points rubbed. Lost on Venus: Jacket lightly soiled, price to spine marked over, price clipped. Escape on Venus: Jacket head edge rubbed, spine sunned. The Wizard of Venus: Light edge wear. Set is better than very good in like jackets. Letter fine.