The Conan Swordbook
The Conan Swordbook is a 1969 collection of essays edited by L. Sprague de Camp and George H. Scithers, published in hardcover by Mirage Press. The essays were originally published as articles in Scithers' fanzine "Amra". The book is a companion to Mirage's other two volumes of material from "Amra", "The Conan Reader" (1968) and "The Conan Grimoire" (1972). Most of the material in the three volumes, together with some additional material, was later reprinted in two de Camp-edited paperback anthologies from Ace Books; "The Blade of Conan" (1979) and "The Spell of Conan" (1980 ). Summary. The book consists of twenty-nine pieces, mostly essays on fantasy writer Robert E. Howard and his seminal sword and sorcery hero Conan the Barbarian, Howard's sources and literary successors, and other fantasy authors such as Talbot Mundy, E. R. Eddison, Edgar Rice Burroughs and A. Merritt. Some original material by Howard is also included.