Part 72 (1/2)

There exist in fact about thirty such idiosyncrasies or errors Once these were identified, there only re, task of syste for their respective appearances and disappearances As stated before, the results are frage number and the other clues described above, it becoy of all the co dates within a two-month span at the h to date the unfinished Conan tales, synopses and frag is an example of these combined techniques at work

Queen of the Black Coast, published in Weird Tales in May 1934, was previously believed to have been co the abovetypescripts, a much different conclusion is reached First, two naest an earlier date: we find ”Cush,” which Howard later spelled ”Kush,” and ”Nilus,” which was later changed to ”Styx” Second, the chapter-nu, ”Chapter 1”) reveals that this tale was composed before December 1932 Third, the fact that some words are underlined establishes that the story ritten after The Scarlet Citadel (Spring 1932) Additionally, with four instances of an incorrectly spelled ”-ness” word, it is clear that the story predates The Pool of the Black One (Nove still further, both the second and third drafts have the word ”envelop” spelled incorrectly as ”envelope”; Howard consistently spelled this word correctly beginning with a letter to H P

Lovecraft in September 1932, so the drafts must have been written before that date Finally, this tale has a correctly spelled ”divide”: the first instance of this spelling in another Howard composition was in a July 13, 1932 letter (as noted above) Thus we conclude that all the drafts of Queen of the Black Coast ritten between July 13 and Septeht

417

NOTES ON THE ORIGINAL HOWARD TEXTS

The texts for this edition of Volume 1 of the Complete Conan of Cimmeria were prepared by Patrice Louinet, Rusty Burke and Dave Gentzel, with assistance froainst Howard's original typescripts, copies of which were furnished by Glenn Lord, or the first published appearance if a typescript was unavailable

Drafts of Howard's stories, when extant, have also been checked to ensure the greatest accuracy Every effort has been made to present the work of Robert E Howard as faithfully as possible

Deviations froinal sources are detailed in these textual notes In the following pages, page, line and word nue 67, fifth line, sixth word Story titles, chapter numbers and titles, and breaks before and after chapter headings, titles and illustrations are not counted; in the poee/line nuinal source, or a statees are indicated by giving the iinal punctuation

Ciinal Howard typescript survives Text taken from a typescript provided by Glenn Lord, probably prepared by Emil Petaja to who

The Phoenix on the Sword

Originally appeared in Weird Tales, Decehout with Howard's spelling: ”Thoth-ahter

Text taken froinal typescript, provided by Glenn Lord Howard's typewriter not allowing ligatures, ”AEsir” has been rendered as ”aesir” throughout 311815: no quotation ; 32201: what; 32203: her; 32285: dazzingly;

34111: barrarian's; 34201: crystaline; 343314: the; 36193: too; 36209: no quotation ain”; 36212: wont; 363513: no comma after ”mountains”

The God in the Bowl

Text taken froinal typescript, provided by Glenn Lord 41512: nitches;

4184212: didnt; 42172: didnt; 42295: dont; 4378: amswered; 43107: murderered; 43348: independant; 44111: net-works; 4482: its; 44223: its; 44236: Lets; 443413: Dont; 452512: didnt; 45303: stubborn; 461315: dont; 46238: no comma after ”men”; 46274: dont; 46288: corden; 462815: no quotation mark after ”it”; 47135: isnt; 47142: havent;

48182: didnt; 48235: period instead of question mark after ”stay”; 48262: dont; 48302: dont; 48305: dont; 48336: no comma after ”who”; 48379: wouldnt; 4991: Dont; 493212: period instead of question lyphics;

51114: Its; 51162: heiroglyphs; 51259: Its; 51285: groves; 51288: heiroglyphics;

52192: didnt; 52243: whither; 522813: nitche; 5439: couldnt; 541110: Its; 54133: couldnt; 54171: Its; 54204: Its; 542013: couldnt; 542712: every; 54286: didnt; 54306: cant; 54372: heiroglyphic; 553110: Dont; 55325: ”ne phew”; 56210: villianous; 56712: didnt; 56141: wouldnt; 56156: We; 563113: perfect's; 57377: cushes

The Tower of the Elephant

Originally appeared in Weird Tales, March 1933 No changes have been made for this edition

The Scarlet Citadel