The illustration by Woolley shown here above appeared on the cover of the first known paperback publication of TARZAN OF THE APES in London, England in May 1929. The publication contained 128 pages (excluding the front and back covers) of which 123 pages were of actual text. It was published by George Newnes, 8-11, Southampton Street, Strand, London, WC2 and was typeset in the two column format (very reminiscent of that era) and printed by Morrison & Gibb Ltd., London and Edinburgh. The price was 6d. Six old English pennies in a decorated circle. The size is 8¼" x 5½". It is bound in four sections and secured with two staples. The artwork on the softcover of this edition has a far more manly version of Tarzan than on the Ransome edition, in the Ransome edition the 6 penny price is an upturned isosceles triangle. The artist who illustrated the cover of the Ransome edition also seems to be Woolley, but if so, after painting such a manly looking Tarzan for the Newnes edition why did he paint such a weak-looking character to portray the Ape Man for this edition. There is not too much indication as to when it was published (the publisher in this instance was C.A. Ransome & Co., 26, Paternoster Row, London, EC4), but it would have to have been published within a year or two of the Newnes edition as a reprint; so why not by Newnes? It contains the same number of pages as the Newnes edition albeit with some changes, for example there is no contents page on page 4 as in the Newnes edition, but it is printed by Morrison and Gibb. The typeset, stapling, size and price are identical to the Newnes edition, quite possibly the same plates. George Newnes possibly created a company to sell other publications, but some of the first titles, were reprint editions of the three Burroughs' titles that he had published - TARZAN OF THE APES, THE RETURN OF TARZAN and THE SON OF TARZAN. The colophon used in the Ransome editions was not as artistic as the Newnes, and was only used on Tarzan of the Apes and The Return of Tarzan, but The Son of Tarzan used the Newnes title page and of course, the corresponding colophon.

Adapted from an article entitled: "Covers from the Past" by Frank H. Westwood published in The Fantastic Worlds of Edgar Rice Burroughs 44: 10 (Autumn/Winter 1998).