The Bloody Crown of Conan Robert E Howard

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NOTES ON THE ORIGINAL HOWARD TEXTS

The texts for this edition of Volume 2 of the Complete Conan of Cimmeria were prepared by Patrice Louinet, Rusty Burke and Dave Gentzel, with assistance from Glenn Lord. The stories have been checked either against Howard’s original typescripts, copies of which were furnished by Glenn Lord and Terence McVicker, 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.

The study of the extant texts for A Witch Shall Be Born (Howard’s original typescript, the carbon thereof and the Weird Tales text), showed conclusively that Farnsworth Wright, the editor of Weird Tales, had censored several passages in the Conan stories, particularly bits of dialogue and descriptions that he probably found too “explicit”. Fortunately, carbons survive for most of the later Conan stories, often in complete or nearly-complete form. The comparison of the texts for which both carbon and original typescript survive shows that these are nearly identical. The only differences concern the titles, subtitles and chapter divisions of the stories, which are often – but not always – absent from the carbons. Additionally, a few typographical errors may have been fixed, or a word replaced by another. Unless the original typescripts ever surface, Howard’s carbons offer by far the purest available text for many of the Conan stories.

Deviations from the original sources are detailed in these textual notes. In the following pages, page, line and word number are given as follows: 51.9.5, indicating page 51, ninth line, fifth word. Story titles, chapter numbers and titles, and breaks before and after chapter headings, titles and illustrations are not counted. The page/line number will be followed by the reading in the original source, or a statement indicating the type of change made. Punctuation changes are indicated by giving the immediately preceding word followed by the original punctuation.

The People of the Black Circle

Text taken from Howard’s carbon, provided by Glenn Lord, and from the September, October and November 1934 issues of Weird Tales. The surviving carbon is incomplete, lacking pages 1-9 and 92 of a 98 page typescript; the missing pages (from the beginning to “she asked” (page 10, line 1) and from “so willingly” (74.26.13) to “repeated helplessly” (75.12.7) are taken from the Weird Tales appearance. Howard’s chapters are untitled on the carbon; it is not known whether the subtitles are Howard’s or Wright’s. Changes from the Weird Tales text: 5.37.6: Sap; 7.6.13: Hills; 8.28.2: Majesty; 9.19.12: Skalos. 9.24.5: Majesty. Changes from Howard’s carbon: 10.18.9: b; 9.30.13: “a” omitted; 11.17.13: Eastern; 12.20.12: country-side; 12.25.9: Then; 15.10.7: sent led; 16.6.11: train; 16.9.9: unwanted; 17.4.2: of; 17.27.14: not of one of; 18.27.2: between; 20.10.7: excercise; 20.11.9: excercises; 21.17.6: ‘the’ absent from typescript; 22.2.10: ‘star-light’ hyphenated at line-break; 22.5.1: no comma after ‘carelessly’; 22.22.6: quiesence; 22.36.3: when; 24.21.1: gripped; 25.14.10: hillsmen; 25.32.13: irrelevent; 25.35.8: liad; 28.9.9: into; 28.9.13: seem; 30.17.12: no comma after ‘squatted’ (typed to right edge of carbon); 30.23.5: Irakzai; 32.18.11: fore-finger; 33.20.1: asonished; 33.20.7: distended; 33.34.4: ‘as’ absent from original; 37.5.7: no comma after ‘through’; 40.17.7: profferred; 40.24.10: hit; 40.25.2: supply; 41.7.5: comma after ‘flight’; 41.26.7: ‘north west’; 42.26.12: ‘in’ not in original; 42.28.7: what ever; 43.10.6: hypnostism; 44.34.4: hundred; 44.39.11: neophism; 45.1.12: excercise; 45.19.1: Raksha; 47.5.7: the top-left corner of the carbon is torn; ‘He shook’ and the ‘l’ of ‘loose’ are missing; the missing words appear in the Weird Tales version and the first draft; 47.16.3: river bed; 48.3.5: river bed; 48.27.6: traffick; 48.33.11: ‘chief’ not in original; 50.18.3: tough; 51.17.5: comma after ‘than’; 51.32.10: gald; 51.37.14: herslf; 51.37.15: in; 52.3.3: scrutinised; 52.9.6: every; 53.7.7: ‘to’ not in original; 53.22.8: loosly; 53.24.13: onlique; 54.10.4: on; 55.2.15: comma instead of semi-colon after ‘fingers’; 56.5.14: no comma after ‘first’; 56.18.7: no comma after ‘suddenly’; 56.27.8: ‘stems’ absent from original; the word appears in the Weird Tales text and in the first draft; 57.4.3: ‘in’ not in original; 58.10.11: wide braced; 59.10.11: infest; 59.26.1: ‘did’ not in original; 60.11.2: half blinded; 60.16.8: thunder storm; 60.17.1: nightning; 61.12.13: green robed; 61.15.3: ‘as’ not in original; 61.28.16: sheer walled; 62.32.8: ‘in a’ in original; 64.1.1: unprecendented; 64.31.14: black robed; 64.34.9: black robed; 65.35.8: no comma after ‘mid-stride’ in original; 66.12.9: reinacted; 66.24.11: suddeness; 66.27.6: ‘if’ not in original; 67.1.5: ‘whether’ not in original; 67.9.5: black robed; 67.9.9: no comma after ‘convulsions’ (typed to right edge of paper); 67.35.7: ‘the’ not in original; 68.7.9: his; 68.14.13: stars; 68.16.7: left hand; 70.2.11: half way; 70.8.1: sandal-wood; 72.1.1: He (there is no chapter transition at this point of Howard’s carbon.); 72.8.15: hair; 73.5.11: dociley; 73.14.5: to; 73.38.1: His; 74.1.1: semi-colon instead of comma after ‘Yes’. 77.9.6: left hand; 77.12.8: melee; 77.23.11: ‘was’ repeated; 77.29.13: van-guard; 78.12.2: accepting.

The Hour of the Dragon

Originally appeared in Weird Tales in five installments, December 1935 and January, February, March and April 1936. The verse heading did not appear in the magazine; it is taken from Howard's submission sheet for the novel prepared for British publisher Denis Archer in May 1934 (document provided by Glenn Lord). It is not known if the heading was included when the novel was sent to Weird Tales. There is no chapter 20 in the Weird Tales text: chapter 19 concluded the March 1936 installment, and the April installment began with chapter 21. A study of the drafts for the novel shows that this is a mistake in numbering rather than a missing chapter. 89.11.13: Zingarians; 133.22.13: not; 138.24.13: can not; 146.26.4: without; 156.32.11: intense; (‘incense’ in all surviving drafts); 166.8.7: Conon; 167.36.8: men; 172.13.5: ‘from’ not in original; 197.11.7: shoreline; 198.22.12: shoreline; 210.6.5: ceatures; 213.32.10: ‘was’ not in original; 244.16.13: men; 245.5.5: Gunderman.

A Witch Shall Be Born

Text taken from Howard’s original typescript, provided by Terence McVicker; page 5 is absent from the typescript; the text for this page has been taken from Howard’s carbon, provided by Glenn Lord. 257.12.2: ‘herself’ not in original; 258.21.8: coifure; 258.21.13: queen’s; 258.22.12: boudior; 260.8.1: ‘He’ underlined; 260.14.1: ‘He’ underlined; 260.16.2: ‘He’ underlined; 260.20.1: pouring; 260.21.1: ‘He’ underlined; 260.24.2: ‘He’ underlined; 261.23.5: semi-colon after ‘called’; 264.9.2: exclamation mark after ‘slain’; 266.5.11: happens; 266.31.6: no hyphen in ‘low-swinging’; 267.8.12: comma after ‘rescue’; 267.36.9: minature; 268.28.14: tavern-floor; 270.34.7: no em-dash before ‘he’; 270.35.1: comma instead of em-dash after ‘nomads’; 272.2.5: ‘to’ not in original; 274.6.14: independance; 274.27.6: ‘the’ not in original; 276.6.1: from whence; 277.1.5: envelopes; 277.10.5: contemptously; 277.21.7: coifure; 277.37.11: permenently; 278.24.4: every; 278.32.7: silvered; 280.15.11: aubdible; 282.13.14: it; 282.14.15: it; 282.21.15: vizer; 282.28.8: ‘a’ not in original; 285.26.8: hoard; 290.10.14: protect; 291.2.2: thick; 291.15.4: semi-colon after ‘merged’; 296.6.2: pillard; 296.36.2: cresent; 296.37.7: agonies; 300.5.2: there; 301.7.1: comma after ‘compassion’.

Untitled synopsis (The People of the Black Circle)