Veiled Manuscripts – First Cuts: the Drafts and Fragments
The Veiled Manuscripts is part of the First Cuts: The Drafts and Fragments series and collects Robert E. Howard’s surviving drafts, synopses, and fragments connected to his spicy adventure stories. Several of the drafts included here have never been published before, making this volume a rare look at Howard’s working process in one of the most unusual corners of his career.
Presented from the original typescripts, the book includes editorial notes for each story, outlining publication history, known draft material, and available payment records where known. Footnotes document corrections, insertions, and other textual details. Designed as a companion to Spicy Adventures: The Ultimate Edition, this 500-page volume also includes pulp-era illustrations connected to the stories.
The paperback edition will be released first. A collector’s hardcover edition is planned for later, similar in presentation to the First Cuts Breckinridge set, with a slipcase, foiled edges, ribbon marker, and head and tail bands. This edition is expected sometime after Howard Days, probably in early fall.
For more details and a full table of contents go to reh.world.
First Cuts: The Drafts and Fragments – Breckinridge Elkins is a four-volume hardcover boxed set (over 1200 pages!) collecting every surviving draft Robert E. Howard wrote featuring Breckinridge Elkins, including the short stories and the novel A Gent from Bear Creek.
The set also includes five scholarly essays by Patrice Louinet, Mark Finn, Dierk Günther, Jeffrey Shanks, and Paul Herman.
