An early series of chapbook reprints from Black Dog Books collected adventure stories from H. Bedford-Jones (1887-1949). Titled “Pathways of Adventure,” the series included six volumes.
Running from 2001 to 2006, the first four volumes had black & white covers on colored paper, with full color on the last two issues. The volumes ran 60-80 pages each. They also included the original interior artwork as well.
The Pathways to Adventures series:
- “Pearls from Macao”
- “The War Lord’s Gold”
- “The Ship of Shadows”
- “Jewels of Java”
- “Gods Guards the Brave”
- “The Ocean Bastille”
The first volume has “Pearls from Macao,” reprinted from Oriental Stories from 1933. It features a tale of several parties after a cargo of a derelict vessel.
The second volume has “The War Lord’s Gold,” this time from Short Stories in 1930. Another treasure hunt, this time after the sunken gold of a Chinese war lord in the South China Sea.
The third volume has “The Ship of Shadows,” from Blue Book in 1920. A strange group is found on a Chinese vessel: a former minister, six Russian revolutionaries, and a former Russian aristocrat.
The fourth volume has a collection of four short stories, starting with the title work of “Jewels of Java” then “Loot of the Vesper,” “Siamese Gold,” and “Pebbles of Fire.” These are from Short Stories in 1930 and 1931. This is another volume I don’t have.
The fifth volume is “Gods Guard the Brave,” which also has “The Pearl of Price.” Both are from Blue Book in 1933 and are nautical adventures.
The sixth volume is “The Ocean Bastille,” from Popular Fiction in 1932. Unlike other stories, this one is set in 1707 and is a buccaneer tale. A prisoner is rescued from Mont St. Michel by his followers, returning to the sea. A bonus story is “The Isle of Trouble” from Man Stories in 1931.
I wish when Black Dog Books moved to using print-on-demand that they had recollected these works as a single volume. These are all out of print and may be hard to find. I guess we’ll have to wait for Altus Press to reprint these works at some point.
Pearls from Macao is available on abebooks.com, only one copy though, good luck!