Hot on the heals of Series V, we get Series VI and VII of the “Argosy Library,” from Steeger Books (previously Altus Press), each with 10 more books of great — and sometimes overlooked — fiction that appeared in the early pulps. We get some stand-alone works, as well as volumes of various sub-series.
As always, most are taken from the pulps started by Frank A. Munsey, who converted his fiction magazines to pulp paper and reduced their price, making them more profitable. He published the well-known Argosy magazine, which got its start in the late 1800s, and several other popular magazines, such as All-Story and Flynn’s Detective Fiction Weekly.
Series VI consists of:
- The Complete Cases of The Mongoose by Johnston McCulley
- The Girl and the People of the Golden Atom by Ray Cummings
- The Gray Dragon: The Adventures of Peter the Brazen, Volume 2 by Loring Brent (George F. Worts)
- The Golden City by Ralph Milne Farley (Roger Sherman Hoar)
- The House of Invisible Bondage: The Complete Cabalistic Cases of Semi Dual, the Occult Detector by J.U. Giesy and Junius B. Smith
- The Scrap of Lace: The Complete Cases of Madame Storey, Volume 1 by Hulbert Footner
- The Tower of Death: The Adventures of Scarlet and Bradshaw, Volume 3 by Theodore Roscoe
- The Devil-Tree of El Dorado: The Saga of Monella, Volume 1 by Frank Aubrey (Francis Atkins)
- The Firebrand: The Complete Adventures of Tizzo, Volume 1 by Max Brand (Frederick Faust)
- Marching Sands and The Caravan of the Dead: The Harold Lamb Omnibus by Harold Lamb
So what do we have this time?
Johnston McCulley (1883-1953) is better known as the author and creator of Zorro, but over his career he wrote many serialized heroes and villains that I have posted on. The Complete Cases of The Mongoose reprints the full set of stories with this later character that appeared in Detective Story Weekly. Another variation of the “vengeance hero,” the Mongoose is actually a brother and sister who are going after the men who frame their father and sent him to prison.
Science-fiction author Ray Cummings (1887-1957) is considered one of the fathers of sf, but I think most people remember him for the short story “The Girl in the Golden Atom,” about a man who takes a drug that shrinks him down to subatomic size and he finds a world that exists on an atom. It led to the novel “The People of the Golden Atom.” Both are reprinted in The Girl and the People of the Golden Atom and later combined into a single novel. They are also the first in “The Scientific Club” series, which Steeger has also reprinted.
I’ve been wanting to read the Peter the Brazen series by Loring Brent (George F. Worts), as some say it’s one of the possible inspirations for Doc Savage. The first volume came out, and strangely followed by the third one, which I’ve held off on reading. Now we finally get The Gray Dragon: The Adventures of Peter the Brazen, Volume 2, which finishes off the first story sequence. So now I can read it and the third volume.
The Radio Man series is what most people remember from Ralph Milne Farley (Roger Sherman Hoar). But he did other works. The Golden City is a lost-world/lost-race work set in Mu (or is it Lemuria?) that sounds interesting. One listing I read tried to tie it in with the Radio Man series, but that’s incorrect.
I’ve been hoping for another Semi-Dual volume, and we get The House of Invisible Bondage: The Complete Cabalistic Cases of Semi Dual, the Occult Detector. Like the last volume, this reprints a serial from later in the series, so it seems we will get volumes out of sequence. But I’ll be getting this one.
I’m not aware of many female detectives in the pulps, but The Scrap of Lace: The Complete Cases of Madame Storey, Volume 1 is the first volume reprinting a series by Hulbert Footner (1879-1944). I’m not sure how many volumes this will run.
The Tower of Death: The Adventures of Scarlet and Bradshaw, Volume 3 is the next volume reprinting this series by Theodore Roscoe. It’s set in the Orient as curio hunter Peter Scarlet hunts for treasure.
Francis Atkins (1847-1927) is British author who wrote under several aliases, including Frank Aubrey. The Devil-Tree of El Dorado: The Saga of Monella, Volume 1 is the first of a trilogy of lost-world/lost-race novels. The third was reprinted by Armchair Fiction, and had hoped the first two would be reprinted. I wasn’t aware these were reprinted in the pulps, but I guess they were. Now this first novel was not reprinted in the pulps, but the other two are, but I think that allowable to give us the full trilogy.
Max Brand — really Frederick Faust (1892-1944) — is better known as a western author. So as we did in the last Library series, we get a reprint of another non-western series. The Firebrand: The Complete Adventures of Tizzo, Volume 1 is the first of two volumes reprinting a series about a 16th-century Italian Renaissance swashbuckling swordsman.
Harold Lamb (1892-1962) is a better known as a prolific author of historical fiction in Adventure. But he wrote some works for Argosy, such as “Marching Sands,” a serial about a lost city of Crusaders located in the Gobi Desert, and “The Caravan of the Dead” (reprinted as The House of the Falcon) a serial about a lost valley of sun worshipers in Asia. Marching Sands and The Caravan of the Dead: The Harold Lamb Omnibus collects these. Not sure if it’s a stand-alone collection or one of several.
It’s another great set of works, several of which I will be getting soon, others maybe later, and others I’m not sure. I’ll have further comments with my posting on Argosy Library, Series VII.
