Edgar Rice Burroughs

Tarzan and the Lion Man Edgar Rice Burroughs

In the terminology of the publishing trade, little exploitation articles like this, that appear on the jackets of books, are called blurbs. There is always a temptation to use superlatives in describing something that one wishes to sell, with the result that blurbs often contain exaggerated statements of the merits of the work. We have assidously sought to avoid such exaggerations in describing the books we have published. We have never said, "This is the greatest novel ever written by Edgar Rice Burroughs," although we came darn near slipping up on the jacket of the first book that appeared under our imprint, Tarzan the Invincible. To make amends for that, we are going to tell you that Mr. Burroughs believes this to be the poorest Tarzan novel he has ever written. On that point however there is a difference of opinion. The Editors of LIBERTY magazine say it is the greatest, and thousands of their readers agree with them. Now we leave it to you. What is your opinion? It has the makings of a good story--a motion picture company in the wilds of Africa, two beautiful girls, ruthless Arabs, a half-maniacal scientist, a tribe of gorillas that he has taught to speak English, a coward who looks like Tarzan--and Tarzan, himself--Tarzan in Africa and Tarzan in Hollywood. We can promise you two things--it will give you plenty of thrills and not a few laughs. [Original blurb from the dust jacket]