Dear Helaine and Joe: Your help in determining the value of this book will be appreciated. It is "Tarzan of the Apes" by Edgar Rice Burroughs and published by Grosset & Dunlap. On one of the inside pages, is "This book, while produced under wartime conditions, in full compliance with government regulations for the conservation of paper and other essential materials, is complete and unabridged." Sincerely. —L.C.L., Uniontown, Pa.
Dear L.C.L.: Much of the information we will be presenting is from abebooks.com, and we strongly advise readers with questions about books to start their quest here.
Edgar Rice Burroughs was born in Chicago on Sept., 1, 1875, and died in Encino, Calif., on March 19, 1950. He was educated at the prestigious Phillips Academy in Andover, Mass., (founded in 1778 as America's oldest boarding school) and at the Michigan Military Academy.
Burroughs' life took something of a turn when he failed the exam to enter West Point and he subsequently enlisted in the 7th Calvary in Fort Grant, Ariz., in 1895. Unfortunately, he had a heart problem and was discharged just two years later.
For some time after that, Burroughs had a number of low paying jobs, but in 1911 while working as a pencil sharpener wholesaler, he began to write fiction. He had been reading a lot of pulp fiction magazines, and decided, "if people were paid for writing rot such as I read in some of those magazines that I could write stories just as rotten."
His first story was "Under the Moons of Mars" and it appeared in All-Story magazine in 1912. "Tarzan of the Apes" was first published in All-Story in October of that same year and the character went on to become a cultural icon. In fact, Tarzan became the first fictional character to be registered as a trademark.
The first hardback edition of "Tarzan of the Apes" was published by A.C. McClure & Co. in 1914, and if you have one of these in its first state (printed by W.F. Hall Printing Co., Chicago, with no acorn symbol on the spine) in excellent condition with its original dust jacket, the monetary value might exceed $50,000!
Now, before L.C.L. gets too excited, let us hasten to say that her volume is much later and considerably less valuable. The first edition mentioned above minus the rare dust jacket brings only around 10 percent of the price with the jacket, and values for other examples of this book fall quickly as many, many more printings occurred.
Grosset & Dunlap first reprinted this book in 1914, and they published many other editions after that one. L.C.L.'s example of "Tarzan of the Apes" appears to be from their 1943 edition (the third Grosset & Dunlap edition), and we surmise this from the statement about how this book was "produced under wartime conditions."
This statement appears on books printed during World War II, and the paper used for these volumes is of inferior quality. The book in today's question does not have its dust jacket, and is in rather poor condition with a torn spine, discoloration to the paper and pages separating from the binding.
We have found examples of "Tarzan of the Apes" in this edition and condition priced for as little as $3, but we have also found books similar to this one priced for around $25.
Helaine Fendelman and Joe Rosson are the authors of the "Price It Yourself" (HarperResource, $19.95). Questions can by mailed to them at P.O. Box 12208, Knoxville, TN 37912-0208.