The Hour of the Dragon

First of three volumes comprising "The Authorized Edition" of Conan edited, with "foreword" by Karl Edward Wagner. Follows the text of the five-part serial published in WEIRD TALES, December 1935 through April 1936.

The story was first published as a five-part serial in Weird Tales between the months of December 1935, January 1936, February 1936, March 1936 and April 1936 (with chapter 20 being misprinted as chapter 21). It was first published in book form in hardcover by Gnome Press in 1950 under the title Conan the Conqueror, a title retained by all later editions until 1977. The first paperback edition was published by Ace Books in 1954. The novel has been reissued a number of times since by various publishers, notably Lancer Books in 1967 and Berkley/Putnam in 1977; the latter, reedited by Karl Edward Wagner, was the first edition to restore the original magazine text and title, under which most subsequent editions have been issued. Donald M. Grant, Publisher, Inc. published an edition in 1989, with illustrations by Ezra Tucker, as volume XI of their deluxe Conan set.

Missing Chapter Mystery: A deal was accepted but the UK publisher went belly up, so REH worked with Weird Tales to publish the chapters in serial form. As Wagner explains, there is a possibility that one chapter went missing (#20). Wagner left the numbering of the chapters consistent with the numbering as printed in Weird Tales (#20 is skipped); the original manuscript sent to Denis Archer has 4,000 more words (Pawling & Ness imprint) has 75,000 words. That edition never made it to press, but Weird Tales published the novel in serial form...and it had only 71,000 words. Regardless, the story seems consistent, so there is no obvious loss in plot. This goes for both the hardcover and softcover.

Based on the original text from WEIRD TALES.
Edited by Karl Edward Wagner
Two original pulp illustrations by Vincent Napoli.
The Berkley edition is the first time the verse headings were published with the story.
There are a number of REH letters excerpted by Karl Edward Wagner in the Foreword and Afterword.

"The Authorized Edition" on the title page.
Date from "7711" on front jacket flap.
Cover artist, Ken Kelly, credited on the rear jacket flap.