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Cover of Breckinridge Elkins - First Cuts: The Drafts and Fragments - Rough Trails 4
Howard Works bibliography
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Breckinridge Elkins - First Cuts: The Drafts and Fragments - Rough Trails 4

REH Foundation Press

2026
Material type
HardcoverPaperback

Publication date: March 2026 (Collector's Boxed Set)

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Introduction

For the first time ever, a collection featuring all of Howard's drafts and fragments. The last volume in a four-part series from the REH Foundation Press collects all the drafts for the novel A Gent from Bear Creek and the two drafts for two chapters made for the novel. 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 the first release is a beautiful boxed set featuring four 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 last volume, Howard scholar Jeffrey Shanks let me use a previously published essay about Breckinridge, and Paul Herman wrote an essay about the history of the typescripts.

Contents

  • iii • Acknowledgments
  • viii • Editor’s Note
  • viii • A Note on Language, Style, and Fidelity
  • ix • Gouged Eyes and Chawed Ears • The Rough-and-Tumble World of Breckinridge Elkins • by Jeffrey Shanks

Striped Shirts and Busted Hearts

  • 5 • Editorial Notes
  • 5 • Striped Shirts and Busted Hearts - draft 1 • (untitled, complete)
  • 17 • Striped Shirts and Busted Hearts - draft 2 • (titled, incomplete)
  • 23 • Striped Shirts and Busted Hearts • (false start)

Meet Cap'n Kidd.

  • 29 • Editorial Notes
  • 29 • Meet Cap'n Kidd - draft 1 • (titled as "chapter .3.", maybe complete)

A Gent from Bear Creek – the novel

  • 49 • Editorial Notes
  • 49 • A Gent from Bear Creek - draft 1 • (untitled, incomplete)
  • 73 • A Gent from Bear Creek - draft 1 • (untitled, incomplete, page 203 variant)
  • 75 • A Gent from Bear Creek - draft 1 • (untitled, incomplete, page 204 false start)
  • 77 • A Gent from Bear Creek - draft 2 • (untitled, incomplete)
  • 83 • A Gent from Bear Creek - draft 3 • (untitled, incomplete)
  • 85 • A Gent from Bear Creek - draft 4
    • Chapter .1. • Striped Shirts and Busted Hearts.
    • Chapter .2. • Mountain Man.
    • Chapter .3. • Meet Cap'n Kidd.
    • Chapter .4. • Guns of the Mountains.
    • Chapter .5. • A Gent from Bear Creek.
    • Chapter .6. • The Feud Buster.
    • Chapter .7. • The Road to Bear Creek.
    • Chapter .8. • The Scalp Hunter.
    • Chapter .9. • Cupid From Bear Creek.
    • Chapter .10. • The Haunted Mountain.
    • Chapter .11. • Educate or Bust.
    • Chapter .12. • War On Bear Creek.
    • Chapter .13. • When Bear Creek Came to Chawed Ear.

Notes and Appendices

  • 323 • Notes by Howard

Appendix 1: Family (The Breckinridge Elkins Family Tree)

  • Parents
  • The Sons - Breckinridge and His Brothers
  • The Daughters - Breckinridge's Sisters
  • The Elkins Clan (Uncles, Aunts, Cousins)
  • The Garfield Clan
  • The Grimes Clan
  • The Gordon Clan
  • The Kirby Clan
  • The Polk Clan
  • The Buckner Clan
  • Unclear / Other Relations

Appendix 2

  • 355 • The History of the Typescripts • by Paul Herman

 

Notes

All of the Howard stories, poems and portions thereof contained in First Cuts: The Drafts and Fragments - Breckinridge Elkins Rough Trails 4 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

Format details
Hardcover; Trade paperback
Edition
First Cuts: The Drafts and Fragments - Breckinridge Elkins Rough Trails 4
Format
hardcover
Publication date
March 2026 (Collector's Boxed Set)
Identifiers
961-9-467000-06-8 (collector's HC)978-1-955446-79-2 (regular hardcover)978-1-955446-80-8 (paperback)
Pages
xxii plus 362
Publisher / imprint
The REH Foundation Press
Cover art
Design by Ståle Gismervik / illustration by Rudolph Belarski.
Illustrations
No illustrations
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 4
Format
paperback
Publication date
March 2026 (Collector's Boxed Set)
Identifiers
961-9-467000-06-8 (collector's HC)978-1-955446-79-2 (regular hardcover)978-1-955446-80-8 (paperback)
Pages
xxii plus 362
Publisher / imprint
The REH Foundation Press
Cover art
Design by Ståle Gismervik / illustration by Rudolph Belarski.
Illustrations
No illustrations
Media details
Hardcover w/dust jacket, Paperback and hardcover in a boxed 4-volume set

4 linked Howard works

52 contents entries

  1. Acknowledgments
  2. Editor’s Note
  3. "On Editing Robert E. Howard: A Note on Language, Style, and Fidelity"
  4. A Note on Language, Style, and Fidelity viii
  5. "Gouged Eyes and Chawed Ears: The Rough-and-Tumble World of Breckinridge Elkins" by Jeffrey Shanks
  6. Striped Shirts and Busted Hearts
  7. Editorial Notes
  8. "Striped Shirts and Busted Hearts" (Draft 1 , untitled, complete)
  9. "Striped Shirts and Busted Hearts" (Draft 2 , titled, incomplete)
  10. "Striped Shirts and Busted Hearts" (false start)
  11. Meet Cap’n Kidd
  12. Editorial Notes
  13. "Meet Cap’n Kidd" (Draft 1 , titled as "chapter .3.", maybe complete)
  14. A Gent from Bear Creek (novel)
  15. Editorial Notes
  16. "A Gent from Bear Creek" (Draft 1 , untitled, incomplete)
  17. "A Gent from Bear Creek" (Draft 1 , untitled, incomplete, page 203 variant)
  18. "A Gent from Bear Creek" (Draft 1 , untitled, incomplete, page 204 false start)
  19. A Gent from Bear Creek - draft 4 85
  20. "A Gent from Bear Creek" (Draft 2 untitled, incomplete)
  21. Chapter .1. • Striped Shirts and Busted Hearts. Chapter .2. • Mountain Man. Chapter .3. • Meet Cap'n Kidd. Chapter .4. • Guns of the Mountains. Chapter .5. • A Gent from Bear Creek. Chapter .6. • The Feud Buster. Chapter .7. • The Road to Bear Creek. Chapter .8. • The Scalp Hunter. Chapter .9. • Cupid From Bear Creek. Chapter .10. • The Haunted Mountain. Chapter .11. • Educate or Bust. Chapter .12. • War On Bear Creek. Chapter .13. • When Bear Creek Came to Chawed Ear.
  22. "A Gent from Bear Creek" (Draft 3 , untitled, incomplete)
  23. Chapter .1. • Striped Shirts and Busted Hearts.
  24. "A Gent from Bear Creek" (Draft 4) Chapter 1. Striped Shirts and Busted Hearts. Chapter 2. Mountain Man. Chapter 3. Meet Cap’n Kidd. Chapter 4. Guns of the Mountains. Chapter 5. A Gent from Bear Creek. Chapter 6. The Feud Buster. Chapter 7. The Road to Bear Creek. Chapter 8. The Scalp Hunter. Chapter 9. Cupid From Bear Creek. Chapter 10. The Haunted Mountain. Chapter 11. Educate or Bust. Chapter 12. War On Bear Creek. Chapter 13. When Bear Creek Came to Chawed Ear.
  25. Chapter .2. • Mountain Man.
  26. Notes by Howard
  27. Chapter .3. • Meet Cap'n Kidd.
  28. Appendix 1: Family The Breckinridge Elkins Family Tree
  29. Chapter .4. • Guns of the Mountains.
  30. Parents The Sons – Breckinridge and His Brothers The Daughters – Breckinridge’s Sisters The Elkins Clan (Uncles, Aunts, Cousins) The Garfield Clan The Grimes Clan The Gordon Clan The Kirby Clan The Polk Clan The Buckner Clan Unclear / Other Relations
  31. Chapter .5. • A Gent from Bear Creek.
  32. Appendix 2
  33. Chapter .6. • The Feud Buster.
  34. "The History of the Typescripts" by Paul Herman
  35. Chapter .7. • The Road to Bear Creek.
  36. Chapter .8. • The Scalp Hunter.
  37. Chapter .9. • Cupid From Bear Creek.
  38. Chapter .10. • The Haunted Mountain.
  39. Chapter .11. • Educate or Bust.
  40. Chapter .12. • War On Bear Creek.
  41. Chapter .13. • When Bear Creek Came to Chawed Ear.
  42. Parents
  43. The Sons - Breckinridge and His Brothers
  44. The Daughters - Breckinridge's Sisters
  45. The Elkins Clan (Uncles, Aunts, Cousins)
  46. The Garfield Clan
  47. The Grimes Clan
  48. The Gordon Clan
  49. The Kirby Clan
  50. The Polk Clan
  51. The Buckner Clan
  52. Unclear / Other Relations

Contributors

No illustrations
Illustrator

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.

Jeffrey ShanksPaul HermanRobert E. HowardStåle Gismervik

Bibliographic and editorial layers

Howard Works source layer

Title
First Cuts: The Drafts and Fragments Breckinridge Elkins: Rough Trails Volume 4
Publisher
REH Foundation Press
Date
April 2026 (Trade paperback) TBD 2026 (Hardcover)
Source file
Breckinridge_Elkins-Rough_Trails-Volume4-REHFPress.html

REH World editorial layer

Title
Breckinridge Elkins - First Cuts: The Drafts and Fragments - Rough Trails 4
Publisher
REH Foundation Press
Date
March 2026 (Collector's Boxed Set)
Source provenance

This record combines the preserved Howard Works bibliography with a reviewed REH World editorial overlay. Editorial values are displayed when present; Howard Works remains the source and fallback.