The prolific H. Bedford-Jones (1887-1949) is rightly called the “King of Pulps,” having written nearly 200 novels, 400 novelettes, and 800 short stories, and who knows how many non-fiction pieces.
In recent years, several of his works have been reprinted, and I have reviewed several of them here, with more coming. He wrote in several genres, and not all do I have an interest in. I more enjoy his adventure and lost-world tales. I doubt I will bother with his westerns and some of his historical works.
But as there is so much from him, I’ve decided to move my reviews of his works to another day of the week rather than fill up my Monday posts, which are devoted to original pulp. So I will have reviews of his works on Thursdays, and try to do no more than two a month, but even that may change.
So to kick this off, I thought I’d briefly discuss what of his works I am aware of being available in print today from various pulp reprinters. I am not going to deal with out-of-print works, nor will I include the various “fly by night” reprinters out there. Also I’m not interested in epub or audio versions. And this is accurate as of this posting, as I hope more is to come.
First off, if you want to learn more about Bedford-Jones, then you need to get a copy of King of the Pulps: The Life & Writings of H. Bedford-Jones from the Battered Silicon Dispatch Box. I have a copy and keep it ready at hand.
Steeger Books
Matt Moring‘s Steeger Books (formerly Altus Press) is far and away the major reprinter of Bedford-Jones with a uniform “H. Bedford-Jones Library” of works in paperwork, as well as a couple in hardback, about 60 so far. What do we have?
John Solomon is Bedford-Jones’ longest-running serial character. Steeger has put out a three-volume reprint of all the stories in hardback and six volumes so far in paperback reprinting seven novels so far. I am putting out reviews tied to the paperback reprints. Solomon is an interesting character, a British agent operating first in the Middle East, and then elsewhere who is often not the center of the stories.
Ships and Men is Bedford-Jones’ longest-running series, which clocks in at 34 episodes. This ran in Blue Book magazine for nearly three years and tells a fictional history of man’s conquest of the seas and waterways. The complete series is reprinted in a large-format hardback volume.
In addition to Ships and Men, he did several other similar historical series in Blue Book and Short Stories. These include the 17-part The World Was Their Stage on pivotal moments in history. The 17-part Warriors in Exhile on the French Foreign Legion. The six-part The Beginning of Air Mail, on, well, the air mail. The 12-part WWII series Our Far Flung Battle Line. The four-part Fireboat Men series in One More Hero: The Cases of the Fireboat Men. The 18-part The Sphinx Emerald tells stories dealing with this gem.
General adventure stories include Treasure Seekers, a 10-part series about a man who invents a treasure finding device. Barbary Gold is about a trio of men recovery gold from a sunken U-boat along, hold on, the Barbary Coast. Ghost Hills is set in Canada. Drums of Dambala is set in Haiti and involved voodoo.
Stories of Asian adventure are an area I’ve enjoyed. These include adventures in China, such as Fang Tung, Magician, Jewels of Ling Ti, and Colonel Flea. Red Runes of China deals with Oriental threats, but in America. The Brazen Peacock is set in the Middle East. The Devil’s Bosun is set in the South Pacific.
Historical fiction is an area that Bedford-Jones excelled at, and he has written many in several eras. They Lived by the Sword tells of Hannibal crossing the Alps. Nuala O’Malley: A Story of Ireland is set during the era of Cromwell. Blood Royal is set in the northwest of Canada. Swordflame is set in New France (Canada). Gunpowder Gold is about funding gunpowder for the American Revolution. The Princess and the Prophet is a tale that involved Mary Queen of Scots and Nostradamus. Tyrone of New Orleans is a series set on the battlefields of WWI. Will o’ the Wisp is a tale of spies in old England. Bellegarde is set in old France.
Written for the Texas Centennial is Dead Men Singing: The Men Who Fought for Texas. Other works on Texas include Bowie Knife and Texas Shall Be Free!
Other historical works are Conquest: The Story of Pierre Radisson, Founder of the Hudson Bay Company and The Cross and the Hammer: A Tale of the Days of the Vikings.
His magnum opus may be D’Artagnan: A Sequel to The Three Musketeers. Similar works are The King’s Passport and its sequel Cyrano.
Nautical tales, including pirates, is another area Bedford-Jones wrote about. H. Bedford-Jones’ Stories of the Seas collects a quartet of works. Abel Smith of Nantucket is a series set in the Pacific. Pirates Ain’t All Dead Yet: The Complete Adventures of Captain Struthers is a humorous series.
As for pirates, there is Buccaneer Blood: The Adventures of Denis Burke about an Irish privateer during the reign of Louis the XIV set in the Caribbean. O’Brien, Buccaneer is another series about a Jacobite refugee from the English and ranges from Africa to the Caribbean.
Bedford-Jones did some crime stories. This include The Thunderbolt of Indra: The Complete Crimes of the Rajah From Hell, a series about a vengeful Hindu. The Ghost of Screwface Hanlon is about the nephew of a crimelord who may be dead. Invitation to a Crime: Further Adventures of Denis Burke is about an American profiteer who is probably a descendant of another character. The Mardi Gras Mystery deals with murder and intrigue in New Orleans.
He was also able to get a few stores in Weird Tales. These include the short series Adventures of a Professional Corpse, and Gimlet Eye Gunn, which was reprinted from Short Stories.
He has a few spy works. The Sphinx Strikes is a short series. The King Makers: The Adventures of Vincent Connor has the title character going up against Oriental agents in China.
Westerns is an area I’m not interested in, but I know he wrote several. These include Thady Shea’s Saga, which tells of the title character’s adventures being caught between waring factions in the Old West. Left-Handed Guns: The Tales of Joe Trimble is an off-beat Western series set during WWI. And the humorous series The Life of Pinky Jones has two volumes so far. This series runs about a dozen stories.
Wildside Press
John Betancourt‘s Wildside Press has put out several Bedford-Jones works. Surprisingly, a few I’ve found on Amazon that don’t appear on Wildside’s webstore. Sadly, a few have very generic covers, with just solid bars of color. There is The House of Skulls and Other Tales of the Pulps, which collects five tales that I think are more about pirates. Another pirate work is Pirates’ Gold. Two nautical works are A Threefold Cord and The Opium Ship, one of only two he had in The Thrill Book.
The Second Life of Monsieur the Devil is set in French Indochina. The Arizona Argonauts is a western. I don’t know about The Black Bull. The Seal of Genghis Khan is a tale set in China.
Historical works include The Cross and The Hammer: A Tale of the Days of the Vikings, Rodomont: A Romance of Mont St. Michel in the Days of Louis XIV, Saint Michael’s Gold, and Blood Royal set in the northwest of Canada.
Adventure House
For John Gunnison‘s Adventure House, what they have reprinted of Bedford-Jones has been in several issues of their High Adventure magazine.
No. 109 has The Seal of John Solomon; No. 116 has The Shadow from People’s, but a different character; No. 121 is “Asian Mystery” with The Jewels of Ling Ti and a trio of others.
No. 140 has “The Man Who Could Not Die” from Detective Magazine; No. 144 has Captain Battle and John Solomon, Retired from People’s; No. 145 has “Roads of Destiny” from People’s; No. 146 has The Brazen Peacock and another tale.
No. 162 has The Uranium Pomegranates, originally from Short Stories. And No. 167 has five of the seven-part “Strato-Shooters” series from Short Stories.
Black Dog Books
While Black Dog Books did do a six-volume set of chapbooks of Bedford-Jones adventure tales, all are out of print.
At present, there are only a handful of volumes from them. The Golden Goshawk is a short nautical-adventure series set in China. The Master of Dragons is a short adventure series set in China during the warlord era with a pair of mercenaries. The Rajah of Hell is a series about a vengeful Hindu. The Saga of Thady Shea is a western series. These last two Steeger Books has also reprinted. Flamehair is a Viking tale from the time of King Harald.
Pulpville Press
Pulpville Press has done a couple of reprints; those being The Second Mate, a nautical adventure in the China Seas from Short Stories and The Temple of the Ten from Adventure. They also reprinted his non-fiction work, This Fiction Business under their CP Books imprint.
Murania Press
Murania Press (Ed Hulse) has reprinted Wilderness Trail, B-J’s first work from Blue Book magazine, with another B-J reprint planned.
Battered Silicon Dispatch Box
Battered Silicon Dispatch Box has put out several Bedford-Jones works in hardback, which are a little pricey. Some are now out of print.
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So those are the ones I know of. There are a whole list of works I’d like to see. I have mainly been getting the ones from Steeger Books, but some from the other publishers. I have a stack of them already to review.
Thank you for this article, I always wanted to read Bedford Jones familiar as I am with Lamb, Howard, Burroughs and other great pulpsters but didn’t know where to start. I think I’ll start with Swordflame.
With H. B-J, it all depends on what you want.
He’s done western, adventure stores set all around the world, but I think more in Asia, historical fiction set in several periods, crime thrillers, spy thrillers, lost world tales (which could be consider adventures). What’s been reprinted only scatches the surface, whereas almost everything Lamb, REH, and ERB is in print.
Gutenburg has 17 titles by Bedford-Jones. Don’t believe they are his best works, but we are talking about some one who may have the record on output.
that’s nice, but my focus is on PUBLISHED titles by Bedford-Jones, not the various electronic version available on-line. I also left out the various works being put out by the fly-by-night operators who grab free texts and slap them in a book or ebook.