My fascination for the works of Edgar Rice Burroughs began in elementary school when my older friend would read to me from the Tarzan books while we walked home. I was enthralled by the exotic locales and adventurous spirit of these stories and they have held a special spot in my imagination ever since.
The first ERB book that I could call my own was the 1960 Grosset & Dunlap edition of "Tarzan of the Apes" with jacket cover art by Gerald McCann. Later, I would add the Ballantine and Ace paperbacks to my growing collection.
Enhancing the words of ERB's fantastic worlds were the illustrations that accompanied the books, comics and other media. Indeed, there is a rich legacy of ERB-related artwork and most well-known fantasy illustrators at one time or another composed an ERB piece to add to their portfolio. Even ERB's son, John Coleman Burroughs, became a famous painter of his father's works. Other notable artists include J. Allen St. John, Burne Hogarth, Frank Frazetta, Roy Krenkel and many others.
I purchased the images shown below at a San Diego ComicCon in the early 1970's. I have no recollection of the provenance of them, but they look to have been removed from an oversized book because they all had page numbers at the bottom. My guess is they were overruns from the publisher, but I can't be certain. In any event, today I'm sharing treasured items from my personal Monster Scrapbook!
John Coleman Burroughs
Danton Doring
Morris Gollub
It's very possible that the works of ERB have inspired more great art than any other franchise I can think of. Those Mo Gollub paintings are awesome in particular.
ReplyDeleteI pondered your statement and I can't think of another, either. ERB's influence is inestimable.
ReplyDelete