King of the Pulps H. Bedford-Jones (1887-1949) had several serial characters, but his longest running one is John Solomon, the roly-poly Cockney British agent.
Solomon appeared in 25 stories over a 20-year period, mostly in Argosy and People’s. During his lifetime, eight of the earlier novels were reprinted in book form, however, this was in England under his Allan Harkwood alias in the mid 1920s.
Since then, a few of the works have been reprinted in High Adventure and elsewhere. The Battered Silicon Dispatch Box had previously reprinted the whole series in three volumes, but those are out of print and a bit expensive if you can find them.
Now, Altus Press is reprinting the series in book form, but only the first volume, The Gate of Farewell: The Adventures of John Solomon, Volume 1, is out as part of its H. Bedford-Jones Library. Volume #2, John Solomon, Supercargo will be out at Pulpfest 2019.
The series consisted of:
- “The Gate of Farewell,” The Argosy (January & February 1914; Altus vol. 1)
- “John Solomon—Supercargo,” The Argosy (July 1914; cover; Altus vol. 2)
- “Solomon’s Quest,” People’s (March 1915; cover)
- “The Seal of John Solomon,” The Argosy (June 1915; High Adventure #109)
- “Gentleman Solomon,” People’s (June 1915; cover?)
- “Solomon’s Carpet,” People’s (October 1915; cover)
- “Solomon’s Submarine,” People’s (February 1916; cover)
- “John Solomon, Argonaut,” People’s (August 1916; cover)
- “The Shawl of Solomon,” People’s (January 1917; cover?)
- “Pilgrim Solomon,” People’s (July 1917; cover; HA #130)
- “John Solomon, Retired,” People’s Favorite Magazine (Dec. 10, 1917; cover; HA #144)
- “Solomon’s Son, People’s Favorite Magazine (June 25, 1918; cover)
- “John Solomon,” People’s Favorite Magazine (July 1921)
- “John Solomon, Incognito,” People’s Favorite Magazine (Oct. 25 to Nov. 15, 1921; cover)
- “The Wisdom of Solomon,” Boston Globe (Sept. 29, 1926; King of the Pulps)
- “The Mysterious John Solomon,” Argosy (Jan. 25, 1930; cover)
- “John Solomon’s Biggest Game,” Argosy (Feb. 15 to March 22, 1930; cover)
- “Gold of Ishmael,” Far East Adventure Stories (February 1931, etc.)
- “Solomon’s Caves,” Argosy (Aug. 15 to Sept. 5, 1931; cover)
- “Solomon Settles Accounts,” Argosy (Feb. 13, 1932; cover)
- “Solomon in the Catacombs,” Argosy (May 20, 1933; cover)
- “The Terror of Algiers,” Argosy (Dec. 2 to Dec. 23, 1933; cover)
- “John Solomon of Limehouse,” Argosy (Jun 9 1934)
- “The Case of the Kidnapped Duchess,” Argosy (Jan. 5, 1935; cover)
- “The Case of the Deathly Barque,” Argosy (Feb. 9, 1935)
Most of the works are novels/novellas and serials; later on there were novelettes. Several were featured on the covers, but earlier covers were more picturesque, and I think Solomon himself only appeared a couple of times, and then wasn’t prominent. It wasn’t until the later covers on Argosy in the 1930s that Solomon was featured in all his glory. I’ve noted the cover stories in the list above.
So who is John Solomon? Is he a strapping adventurer? A hardened sailor? Nope. He’s a chubby Englishman with graying hair, who talks with a Cockney accent when speaking English, but is fluent in Arabic, Turkish, and other languages. He has been around the Middle and Far East, and has earned the respect of many Arab and Asian traders and other important figures. In the first few stories, he operated as a “ship’s chandler,” running a shop in Port Said selling ship’s supplies. He has a network of people throughout the Middle East, all wearing a ring with his sign on it.
In this position, he is involved with intrigue, getting mixed up with different people who come into the area. But he doesn’t appear as the main character, that is usually someone else. He’s more of a secondary character, though very important to the story, working behind the scenes. In the first few stories, set before and during World War I, the main enemy seems to be various Ottoman Turks (called “Osmanli” in the stories, which is Turkish for, well, Turks), and later certain European elements. With the 10th story, he shuts down his Port Said store and headed East. In the next story, he’s set up another store in Java. I assume this is the case with the rest of the stories up through the 14th story in 1921, when the series initially ended.
From the few stories I’ve read from this period, in most cases the story gets started by other characters, who usually are the main protagonists. There is always a girl involved with the main character hooking up with the girl, and they decide to get married and settle down. John is a little mysterious. He doesn’t seem to have any official standing, and a few stories hint to him being American.
I do know that a few have some fantastical elements, basically involving lost cities. These are numbers 2 through 5, maybe 6, and 9, 14, and 16. So these are the ones I’m most interested in. Having read some of Bedford-Jones’ lost cities stories, I find these fairly realistic, if you can talk of “realistic lost world” stories.
The editor of Argosy was able to get Bedford-Jones to bring back Solomon in 1930. I wonder how different the stories are, as the covers for many of the stories feature Solomon himself? The stories are set in contemporary Europe and North Africa. And the last trio of stories are actually set in London and are more mysteries than adventures. So I am looking forward to getting access to them.
As to the stories I have read so far, “The Gate of Farewell” introduces Solomon — in the fifth chapter. Here, an American engineer is looking for his older brother who has supposedly died in Egypt, but the American is uncertain, engages a ship with captain and crew to help look for him, and calls upon Solomon for assistance. But others are looking for a treasure that the deceased brother had found. So will he succeed or run afoul of things? And how will Solomon be part of all of this? We first see his shop and his network of agents.
High Adventure #109 has “The Seal of John Solomon.” Here we are told that Solomon has been operating for five years, and is actually replacing all his people’s rings with a new design. He is pulled into an adventure where an Ohio missionary and his daughter are looking for a lost city in Arabia founded by crusaders. Solomon is aided by an American who is familiar to the area and is one of his infrequent agents and here the main protagonist. But there is danger and intrigue as well, as Turkish agents are also looking for the city for some secret it holds. Can Solomon and his associate help them before it’s too late?
HA #130 has “Pilgrim Solomon,” another story of adventure in Arabia. This time Europeans are involved with the Turks. An American is tasked with heading to Mecca to rescue an American woman, but runs afoul of an Austrian spy who aims to prevent Arabs from taking control of Mecca from the Turks. Solomon is somehow involved, as this will weaken the Turks if successful. At the end, Solomon decides to shut down his shop and move elsewhere, which makes sense as WWI has ended, along with the threat of the Turks in the Middle East.
HA #144 has “John Solomon, Retired,” which picks up from the prior story. Solomon is now operating in Java, and while respected by many, he doesn’t seem to have the same old network of agents as before. But involved he is. He engages an American to assist a woman who has taken over her late brother’s spice plantation. A schemer is after the plantation for unknown reasons, and a Chinese friend of the brother aims to prevent this schemer from succeeding. Will the American succeed, and will we learn what is behind it all? We also get Chinese secret societies and pirates mixed in, as well.
King of the Pulps: The Life and Writings of H. Bedford-Jones has “The Wisdom of Solomon,” which was found in the Boston Globe. What is confusing is that the Boston Globe‘s Sunday magazine always ran reprinted fiction. But researchers cannot find where this story first appeared. In reading it, the protagonist is the same character from “The Seal of John Solomon,” and at the end of that story he had retired to America with his new bride. Plus this story seems set during WWI. So I have to think the original publication of this story occurred before that. Here we again have a short story of intrigue, dealing with a femme fatale and a dangerous Turkish agent.
Overall I’ve enjoyed the John Solomon stories I’ve read so far. I am curious to see how the series progresses, especially in the later years. I really hope Altus Press steps up the reprint of these series and does more than one story per volumes. Check this one out!
