Introduction
Edited by L. Sprague de Camp
Conan the Wanderer is a 1968 collection of four fantasy short stories by American writers Robert E. Howard, L. Sprague de Camp, and Lin Carter, featuring Howard's sword and sorcery hero Conan the Barbarian. Most of the stories were originally published in various fantasy magazines. The book has been reprinted a number of times by various publishers and has also been translated into German, Japanese, Spanish, Dutch, Swedish, and Italian. It was later gathered together with Conan the Adventurer and Conan the Buccaneer into the omnibus collection The Conan Chronicles 2 (1990).
Notes
1st edition, 1968, 74-976, purple edges, 75 cents
2nd edition, 1968, 74-976, purple edges, 75 cents, Canada
3rd edition, 1969, 74-976, purple edges, 75 cents
4th edition, 1969, 74-976, purple edges, 75 cents, Canada
5th edition, 1970, 74976-095, purple edges, 95 cents
6th edition, 1970, 74976-095, purple edges, 95 cents, Canada
7th edition, 1971, 74976-095, yellow edges, 95 cents
8th edition, May 1972, 74976-095, yellow edges, 95 cents
9th edition, Sept 1972, 74976-095, yellow edges, 95 cents
10th edition, May 1973, 78741-125, yellow edges, $1.25
The covers of the various printings change slightly every so often in the series.
Edited by L. Sprague de Camp
Frontispiece: Map of the Hyborian Age
"Three Bladed Doom" features El Borak and has both a long (42,000 words) and a short (24,000 words) version.
L. Sprague de Camp rewrote the long version into a Conan story titled "The Flame Knife."
Lancer went backrupt in 1973, but there were numerous later printings by Prestige and Ace, perhaps 20 or more printings total.
The Prestige books are known to exist in at least two states. Some have "DISTRIBUTED BY ACE BOOKS" on the cover with Prestige Books listed as the publisher on the title page. Some have "ACE" on the cover and are stamped with "Prestige" on the copyright page.
There are also U.K. editions published by Sphere.
The Conan series continued up to the late 1980's and is the basis for numerous licensed as well as bootleg non-English editions. The Conan series is by far the most reproduced REH series in the world. It is quite possible that over one million copies of this book are in print.
Edition and production details
- Language
- English
- Edition
- 10 editions - see notes
- Edition format
- Paperback
- Publication date
- 1968 - 1973 (see notes)
- Pages
- 222
- Publisher / imprint
- Lancer
- Cover art
- John Duillo
- Illustrations
- None
4 linked Howard works
- Shadows in Zamboula story Howard writing Publications
- The Devil in Iron story Howard writing Publications
- The Flame Knife story Howard writing Publications
- Three-Bladed Doom story Howard writing Publications
12 contents entries
- Map of the Hyborian Age (Frontispiece)
- Introduction (Conan the Wanderer) • essay by L. Sprague de Camp 9 · introduction
- "Introduction" by L. Sprague de Camp
- Black Tears • [Conan] • novelette by Lin Carter and L. Sprague de Camp 13 · novelette
- "Shadows in Zamboula"
- Shadows in Zamboula • [Conan] • (1935) • novelette by Robert E. Howard 46 · novelette
- "The Devil in Iron"
- The Devil in Iron • [Conan] • (1934) • novelette by Robert E. Howard 85 · novelette
- "The Flame Knife" (with L. Sprague de Camp)
- The Flame Knife • [Conan] • (1955) • novella by L. Sprague de Camp and Robert E. Howard 124 · novelette
- Non-REH Content
- "Black Tears" by L. Sprague de Camp and Lin Carter
Contributors
- L. Sprague de Camp
- Editor, Introduction author
- John Duillo
- Cover artist
Additional related terms
Preserved from the former REH World tagging system; these terms have not yet been assigned as contributors, characters or subjects.
Bibliographic and editorial layers
Bibliographic source layer
- Title
- Conan the Wanderer
- Publisher
- Lancer
- Date
- 1968 through 1973 (See Notes)
- Source file
- conanthewanderer.html
REH World editorial layer
- Title
- Conan the Wanderer
- Publisher
- Lancer
- Date
- 1968 - 1973 (see notes)