AN AUTO-BIOGRAPHY. Alma, Mich. Compliments of the Republic Motor Truck Company (Incorporated) [Joseph Mack Printing House, Inc., Detroit], n.d. [1917]. Small octavo, pp. [1-20] (not paginated), small photograph of Burroughs tipped in on page [4], eleven small drawings in the text, printed throughout in black and gold, publisher's pictorial suede wrappers, silk endpapers, string tied. First edition. This virtually unknown booklet is not dated, but it appears to have been produced in 1917 as Burroughs' book credits on the title page include THE SON OF TARZAN. The story, commissioned by the Republic Motor Truck Company, was based on a three-month automobile camping tour from Oak Park, Illinois to Los Angeles, California in the Summer of 1916. Burroughs accepted Republic's proposal to write a promotional article "detailing your experiences with your Republic truck on your recent transcontinental journey" which would be printed in a "little book" in "De Luxe form." "The completed article of approximately 1900 words was titled "An Auto-Biography," and Ed wrote it in a whimsical vein, creating the truck as a first-person character recounting the story of the adventurous journey. Ed's personality comes through, as does his penchant for ridiculing his own actions and viewing himself as the most illogical and blundering of travelers." - Porges, Edgar Rice Burroughs: The Man Who Created Tarzan, p. 254. Republic proposed to issue about a quarter of a million copies of the booklet, but it is doubtful that more than a few thousand copies were produced as the paperbound "trade" copies are rarely encountered. A few copies were specially bound in brown suede with silk endpapers, apparently for the personal use of the author. The booklet was reprinted in an edition of 300 copies by Robert B. Zeuschner and Javier Dimas as a keepsake for attendees of the 1996 Tarzana Dum-Dum. See Porges, pp. 237-56, especially pp. 254-56 (the title page of the booklet is reproduced on page 255). Zeuschner 850. Zeuschner (2016), pp. 17-8. Not in Heins. A fine copy. Provenance: A family copy. From the personal collection of Linda Burroughs, wife of Danton Burroughs, who was the son of John Coleman Burroughs, and grandson of Edgar Rice Burroughs. 2023 COA included. Also issued in stapled paper wrappers, this is the deluxe issue bound in suede. Only a few copies were so issued. Very rare. (#174568).
Price: $3,750.00
No statement of printing.