The Complete Chronicles of Conan – Centenary Edition

Introduction

This is one thick book, but very lightweight. The Complete Chronicles of Conan: Centenary Edition is a collection of fantasy short stories written by Robert E. Howard featuring his sword and sorcery hero Conan the Barbarian. These are not all “pure” Howard texts. Unfortunately the texts came from various sources. See ‘Source’ under contents.

Different edtitions

The book was published in 2006 by Gollancz and is an omnibus of their earlier collections The Conan Chronicles, Volume 1: The People of the Black Circle and The Conan Chronicles, Volume 2: The Hour of the Dragon, though the stories are rearranged. The collection is edited by Stephen Jones and was issued to celebrate the centenary of Howard’s birth. Most of the stories originally appeared in the magazines The Phantagraph, Weird Tales, Super-Science Fiction, Magazine of Horror, Fantasy Fiction, Fantasy Magazine, and The Howard Collector.

Another edition, also from 2006 was published by BCA. The book is almost identical to the Gollancz book and has ‘This edition published 2006 by BCA by arrangement with Gollancz. An imprint of the Orion Publishing Group’. It does not have print on the front and back of the book, only the spine, but it has a dustcover which the Gollancz edition does not have.

About the texts

The following information is lifted from Edward Waterman’s website The Barbarian Keep. Not updated since the early 2000s.

Stephen Jones has graciously recompiled the list of sources used to typeset the text for the British edition of The Conan Chronicles. Because Robert E. Howard’s fiction has been so brutally expurgated and edited in the past, it is important to know whether or not the sources for the text were edited or unaltered in order to determine whether or not the current text can be considered “pure” of other writers’ sensibilities. For those interested in doing literary criticism and studies, and even for those who simply want to read what the original author intended, authentic, unedited text is a must. Access to pure text is especially important for literary criticism and studies, as any conclusion drawn from erroneous or distorted data will itself be distorted.

Previous reports of the textual sources used for The Conan Chronicles have been inaccurate at best. It was said that 80% of the stories were taken directly from their original Weird Tales appearances. With this new list we find that only two of the stories were taken directly from the original Weird Tales. This might be worthy of some concern, however most of the texts of interest were taken from acceptable, secondary sources with but a few exceptions. Two of the most important exceptions being: “Black Colossus” and “Shadows in the Moonlight.” The text for both stories were unfortunately taken from the bowdlerized Conan library published by Donald M. Grant Publishers. Because some Howard books published by D. M. Grant have been found to be expurgated for content, the purity or authenticity of D. M. Grant’s entire library of Robert E. Howard books has become suspect and is therefore, unless otherwise determined, an unacceptable textual source. Also taken from unacceptable sources were the texts for most of the posthumously published Conan tales, story fragments, and synopses: “The God in the Bowl,” “The Snout in the Dark,” and “Drums of Tombalku.” One other thing marring the authenticity and correctness of the text in The Conan Chronicles is an uncharacteristically large amount of typos found throughout the book.

However, Millennium/Orion/Gollancz Publishers have achieved a measure of respect with their two volumes of Conan tales. Unlike most Conan paperbacks published by prior companies, Gollancz and Stephen Jones did make a good faith effort to go back to unaltered texts in order to showcase the brilliance of Robert E. Howard’s poetic prose. The fact that Gollancz fell short does not diminish their few accomplishments in the series. “The Black Stranger,” “The Frost Giant’s Daughter,” “The Hall of the Dead,” and “The Hand of Nergal” have all been typeset without posthumous collaborations or alterations, for example. “Wolves Beyond the Border” was typeset directly from photocopies of original manuscripts, and a pleasant surprise was that “Notes on Various Peoples of the Hyborian Age” was also taken from its manuscript rather than its first appearance in print. Lastly, “Cimmeria,” that has almost never been published without errors, is taken from one of two acceptable sources and is presumably free of errors here.

Although certainly not the books of pure Conan stories that we all had hoped for, The Conan Chronicles is definitely a step in the right direction in Howard publishing. The mere fact that the two volumes contain only stories by Robert E. Howard, without “posthumous collaborations” or pastiches by other authors, is enough to recommend the books — and more than enough to praise Millennium/Orion/Gollancz Publishers and Stephen Jones for their excellent intentions in the realm of presenting some of the world’s best literature, even if the end result was not what everyone had hoped for. Cheers!

Contents

Notes

Edited and with afterword by Stephen Jones
Collects The Conan Chronicles Volume 1 and Volume 2 published by Gollancz/Millennium into one edition.
The cover is leather-style with Les Edwards’ art embossed in gold. The binding material has the exact feel of leather, but is a synthetic.
Map on inner back and front of the book. Spot illustrations. No dustjacket on the Gollancz edition. The BCA has no map and no print on the cover and back, only on the dustjacket.
Gollancz is an imprint of the Orion Publishing Company.

Publisher:Gollancz / BCA (with dustjacket)
Year :January 2006
Book No. :0575077662  (Hardcover)
0575077808  (Trade paperback)
0-000001-436099 / CN 143609 (Hardcover from BCA with dustjacket)
Edition :1st
Format :Hardcover & Trade paperback
Hardcover with dustjacket by BCA
Pages :944
Cover :Les Edwards
Illustrations :Les Edwards

My own copy of a rare set of Gollanz Fantasy Masterworks’ Conan Chronicles, clothbound. One of only two such sets made. Gilded titles on the side, Hard clothbound box. Two softcovers made into hardcovers.

Hardcover BCA edition with dustjacket
Hardcover BCA edition with dustjacket - back

The Complete Chronicles of Conan – Centenary Edition

This is one thick book, but very lightweight. The Complete Chronicles of Conan: Centenary Edition is a collection of fantasy short stories written by Robert E. Howard featuring his sword and sorcery hero Conan the Barbarian.

The book was published in 2006 by Gollancz and is an omnibus of their earlier collections The Conan Chronicles, Volume 1: The People of the Black Circle and The Conan Chronicles, Volume 2: The Hour of the Dragon, though the stories are rearranged. The collection is edited by Stephen Jones and was issued to celebrate the centenary of Howard’s birth. Most of the stories originally appeared in the magazines The Phantagraph, Weird Tales, Super-Science Fiction, Magazine of Horror, Fantasy Fiction, Fantasy Magazine and The Howard Collector.

Tags: Conan / Robert E. Howard / Stephen Jones