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Cover of Breckinridge Elkins - First Cuts: The Drafts and Fragments - Rough Trails 1
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Breckinridge Elkins - First Cuts: The Drafts and Fragments - Rough Trails 1

REH Foundation Press

2026
Publication type
Collection
Edition format
HardcoverPaperback

Publication date: March 2026

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Introduction

For the first time ever, a collection featuring all of Howard's drafts and fragments. The first volume in a four-part series from the REH Foundation Press collects all the drafts for Howard's drafts for the first six of the Breckinridge Elkins stories. All from Howard’s original typescripts, manuscripts, and carbons. Howard's raw text, including typos and weird spellings, is preserved. Footnotes describe where Howard inserted text either by typing in between lines or by hand.These books will be print-on-demand, and first out is a beautiful boxed set with 4 hardcover books with matching covers, gold-foiled dust jackets, and sprayed edges. Later, there will be more regular, normally priced hard- and softcover books.For the first volume, Howard scholar Patrice Louinet kindly allowed me to use an essay he wrote in 2012, slightly updated. The perfect essay for this first volume.Contents
  • iii • Acknowledgments
  • ix • The Underwood Trails of Breckinridge Elkins
  • xv • Foreword by Ståle Gismervik
  • xv • On Editing Robert E. Howard • A Note on Language, Style, and Fidelity
  • xix • One Gent Too Many on Bear Creek • by Patrice Louinet
Mountain Man
  • 5 • Editorial Notes
  • 5 • Mountain Man - draft 1 • (untitled, complete)
  • 23 • Mountain Man - draft 2 • (untitled, complete)
  • 41 • Mountain Man - draft 3 • (untitled, complete)
Guns of the Mountain
  • 61 • Editorial Notes
  • 61 • Guns of the Mountains - draft 1 • (untitled, complete)
  • 71 • Guns of the Mountains - draft 2 • (untitled, complete)
  • 87 • Guns of the Mountains - draft 3 • (untitled, complete)
  • 101 • Guns of the Mountains - draft 4 • (untitled, incomplete)
A Gent from Bear Creek
  • 107 • Editorial Notes
  • 107 • A Gent from Bear Creek - draft 1 • (untitled, complete)
  • 129 • A Gent from Bear Creek - draft 1-1 • (continued from page 17)
  • 141 • A Gent from Bear Creek - draft 1-2 • (continued from page 17)
  • 153 • A Gent from Bear Creek - draft 2 • (untitled, complete)
  • 181 • A Gent from Bear Creek - draft 3 • (titled and complete)
A Stranger in Grizzly Claw / The Scalp Hunter
  • 205 • Editorial Notes
  • 205 • A Stranger in Grizzly Claw - draft 1 • (untitled, maybe complete)
  • 221 • A Stranger in Grizzly Claw - draft 2 • (untitled, complete)
The Road to Bear Creek
  • 243 • Editorial Notes
  • 243 • The Road to Bear Creek • (untitled synopsis)
  • 245 • The Road to Bear Creek - draft 1 • (untitled, incomplete)
  • 253 • The Road to Bear Creek - draft 2 • (untitled, complete)
  • 269 • The Road to Bear Creek - draft 3 • (untitled, complete)
Mayhem and Taxes
  • 289 • Editorial Notes
  • 289 • Mayhem and Taxes - draft 1 • (untitled, maybe complete)
  • 299 • Mayhem and Taxes - draft 2 • (untitled, incomplete)
The Haunted Mountain
  • 311 • Editorial Notes
  • 311 • The Haunted Mountain - draft 1 • (untitled, complete)
  • 319 • The Haunted Mountain - draft 2 • (untitled, complete)
  • 335 • The Haunted Mountain - draft 3 • (untitled, complete)

Notes

All of the Howard stories, poems and portions thereof contained in First Cuts: The Drafts and Fragments - Breckinridge Elkins Rough Trails 1 come from Howard’s original typescripts, manuscripts, and carbons. Virtually all of the typescripts were scanned from the Glenn Lord collection, now at the University of Texas, Austin; the Robert E. Howard collection at Texas A&M University; or the typescript collection at Cross Plains Library.
Concept, transcriptions, layout and project development by Ståle Gismervik, Savage Studios.
 

Edition and production details

Language
English
Format details
Hardcover; Trade paperback
Edition
First Cuts: The Drafts and Fragments - Breckinridge Elkins Rough Trails 1
Edition format
hardcover
Publication date
March 2026
Identifiers
961-9-467000-03-7 (Collector's HC) 978-1-955446-71-6 (regular hardcover) 978-1-955446-74-7 (paperback)
Pages
xxxiv plus 352
Publisher / imprint
The REH Foundation Press
Cover art
Design by Ståle Gismervik / illustration by Lorence Ferdinand Björklund.
Illustrations
Several illustrations from pulp magazines + 1 photocopy from a typescript
Media details
Hardcover w/dust jacket, Paperback and hardcover in a boxed 4-volume set
Edition
First Cuts: The Drafts and Fragments - Breckinridge Elkins Rough Trails 1
Edition format
paperback
Publication date
March 2026
Identifiers
961-9-467000-03-7 (Collector's HC) 978-1-955446-71-6 (regular hardcover) 978-1-955446-74-7 (paperback)
Pages
xxxiv plus 352
Publisher / imprint
The REH Foundation Press
Cover art
Design by Ståle Gismervik / illustration by Lorence Ferdinand Björklund.
Illustrations
Several illustrations from pulp magazines + 1 photocopy from a typescript
Media details
Hardcover w/dust jacket, Paperback and hardcover in a boxed 4-volume set

8 linked Howard works

45 contents entries

  1. Acknowledgments
  2. "The Underwood Trails of Breckinridge Elkins"
  3. "Foreword" by Ståle Gismervik
  4. "On Editing Robert E. Howard: A Note on Language, Style, and Fidelity"
  5. "One Gent Too Many on Bear Creek" by Patrice Louinet
  6. Mountain Man
  7. Editorial Notes
  8. "Mountain Man" (Draft 1, untitled, complete)
  9. "Mountain Man" (Draft 2, untitled, complete)
  10. "Mountain Man" (Draft 3, untitled, complete)
  11. Guns of the Mountain
  12. Editorial Notes
  13. "Guns of the Mountains" (Draft 1, untitled, complete)
  14. "Guns of the Mountains" (Draft 2 , untitled, complete)
  15. "Guns of the Mountains" (Draft 3 , untitled, complete)
  16. "Guns of the Mountains" (Draft 4 , untitled, incomplete)
  17. A Gent from Bear Creek (short story)
  18. Editorial Notes
  19. "A Gent from Bear Creek" (Draft 1 , untitled, complete)
  20. "A Gent from Bear Creek" ((Draft 1-1 , continued from page 17)
  21. "A Gent from Bear Creek" (Draft 1-2 , continued from page 17)
  22. "A Gent from Bear Creek" (Draft 2 , untitled, complete)
  23. "A Gent from Bear Creek" (Draft 3 , titled, complete)
  24. A Stranger in Grizzly Claw / The Scalp Hunter
  25. Editorial Notes
  26. "The Scalp Hunter" (Draft 1 , untitled, maybe complete, as "A Stranger in Grizzly Claw" )
  27. "The Scalp Hunter" (Draft 2 , untitled, complete, as "A Stranger in Grizzly Claw" )
  28. The Road to Bear Creek
  29. Editorial Notes
  30. "The Road to Bear Creek" (untitled synopsis)
  31. "The Road to Bear Creek" (Draft 1 , untitled, incomplete)
  32. "The Road to Bear Creek" (Draft 2 , untitled, complete)
  33. "The Road to Bear Creek" (Draft 3 , untitled, complete)
  34. Mayhem and Taxes
  35. Editorial Notes
  36. "Mayhem and Taxes" (Draft 1 , untitled, maybe complete)
  37. "Mayhem and Taxes" (Draft 2 , untitled, incomplete)
  38. The Haunted Mountain
  39. Editorial Notes
  40. "The Haunted Mountain" (Draft 1 , untitled, complete)
  41. "The Haunted Mountain" (Draft 2 , untitled, complete)
  42. "The Haunted Mountain" (Draft 3 , untitled, complete)
  43. A Gent from Bear Creek - draft 3 • (titled and complete) 181
  44. A Stranger in Grizzly Claw - draft 1 • (untitled, maybe complete) 205
  45. A Stranger in Grizzly Claw - draft 2 • (untitled, complete) 221

Characters / Featuring

Breckinridge Elkins

Additional related terms

Preserved from the former REH World tagging system; these terms have not yet been assigned as contributors, characters or subjects.

Patrice LouinetPaul HermanRobert E. HowardStåle Gismervik
Source provenance

This public record has been reviewed and combined by REH World. The preserved bibliographic source and earlier editorial layers remain stored internally for reference and future correction.