TARZAN AND THE CITY OF GOLD - 1933
Written
Nov 1931 to Jan 1932
ERB's working title
Tarzan and the City of Gold
First published
Argosy magazine, Mar to Apr 1932
Magazine title
Tarzan and the City of Gold
First hardcover edition
ERB Inc, Sep 1933
Book illustrator
J Allen St John
Filmed
No
BACKGROUND
In 1931 ERB negotiated a deal with Don Moore, the new editor of Argosy magazine, in which he agreed to provide three new stories, one of them a Tarzan.  The first of these was Pirates of Venus, which was to launch a new series and a new hero - Carson of Venus.  For the Tarzan story Ed returned to his idea of placing the ape-man in Abyssinia, an idea he had temporarily shelved back in 1923 when he began work on Tarzan and the Ant Men.  He sent the story to Moore in two sections, the first being titled Tarzan and the City of Gold.  He explained his intention to use this title for the forthcoming book and he said that the companion story was called Tarzan and the City of Ivory.  Both stories were published together in serial form between 12 March and 16 April and it was unusual in that it was the first time Burroughs used a flashback sequence in a Tarzan novel - in prison Tarzan recollects his childhood amongst Kala and the other apes.  ERB Inc published the hardcover novel and the old stalwart, J Allen St John, returned to provide the art.  The third story delivered to Moore was Lost on Venus, a sequel to Pirates. (Porges)
PLOT
When Tarzan of the Apes freed the white man who was being tortured by the savages, he was surprised to learn that the stranger came from no race or country the ape-man knew.  He was from the fabled land of Onthat, where lay two ancient cities unknown to the outside world.  One was Athne, city of ivory; the other was Cathne, city of gold and evil.  There great prides of trained lions were used to hunt down men and wage eternal war.  And there Tarzan met the beautiful queen Nemone, who was determined to have Tarzan as her king... or feed him to the lions! (1975 Ballantine paperback)
SOURCES
• Edgar Rice Burroughs: The Man Who Created Tarzan by Irwin Porges, 1975, Brigham Young University Press
COVERS
• Neal Adams cover from the 1975 Ballantine Books paperback edition is from my personal collection
• Edward Mortelmans' cover from the 1961 Four Square Books paperback edition is from my personal collection
• Don McLoughlin cover from the 1954 Whitman Authorized Abridged hardcover edition is from my personal collection
• J Allen St John cover from the dustjacket of the 1933 ERB Inc hardcover edition was pilfered from an eBay auction item
LYNX
• The full text of this novel is available on-line from Project Guttenburg's Tarzan and the City of Gold page
• Read a summary of this novel at Tangor's Tarzan and the City of Gold Summarized page
• Colourful paperback covers are at Nick Knowles' Tarzan and the City of Gold page
CAPTURE
• Bag yourself a copy of this novel at Amazon.com's Tarzan and the City of Gold page or try eBay
Tarzan© is the property of Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc., Tarzana CA.
This independent, non-profit, fan-based analysis of the Tarzan material is copyright © 2002-2007 Paul Wickham
This page updated July 2006