In 1968 the first of a set of three hardback books was published that assembled articles previously printed in Amra, the official fanzine of the first Conan fan club, The Hyborian Legion. These books, edited by L. Sprague de Camp and published by Mirage Press, were:

1. The Conan Reader (Mirage Press, 1968),
2. The Conan Swordbook (Mirage Press, 1969), and
3. The Conan Grimoire (Mirage Press, 1972).

A few years later a set of different books was published in paperback form that contained most of the articles from the three earlier Mirage Press books. These paperback books, published by Ace Books, were:

1. The Blade of Conan (Ace Books, 1979)
2. The Spell of Conan (Ace Books, 1980)

The question comes to mind of the relative worth of the Mirage Press books while considering the much less expensive Ace volumes. Are both sets of books, the Mirage Press and Ace Books volumes, worth purchasing? If the Ace Books set is simply a reprint, containing nearly all of the articles in the Mirage Press editions, then why acquire the Mirage Press books? What is the difference between the two sets of books anyway?

One way to differentiate the two sets of books is by looking at their table of contents for the articles contained in each book and evaluating the sets in this manner. Using the listing of articles of the three Mirage Press hardbacks found in the bibliography of The Last Celt (D. M. Grant, 1976) and the table of contents from my own copies of the two Ace Books volumes, I have discovered that both sets contain
articles not found in the other.

A statistical analysis shows that 56 articles are common to both sets, out of a combined number of 92 articles. A full 28% of the articles from The Conan Reader, The Conan Grimoire, and The Conan Swordbook set did not make it into The Blade of Conan or The Spell of Conan. Although the two Ace paperbacks do contain "most" of the articles from the three Mirage Press books (about 72%), to say that The Blade of Conan and The Spell of Conan are mere reprints or to imply that all the articles from the Mirage Press books were reprinted in the Ace Books paperback set is a gross misrepresentation.

There are 22 articles contained in The Conan Reader, The Conan Grimoire, and The Conan Swordbook that are not contained in the two Ace Books paperback set. Conversely, there are 14 articles contained in The Blade of Conan and The Spell of Conan that are not contained in the three book Mirage Press hardback set.

For anyone interested in reading literary criticism and studies on the Conan character, both the Mirage Press and Ace Books volumes have something unique and valuable to offer. They are not mere reprints of each other.

The following is a listing of those unique articles from the Mirage Press books that were not reprinted in the Ace Books volumes, and a listing of those articles in the Ace Books volumes that were not previously printed in the Mirage Press editions:

Material found only in The Conan Reader:
"El-Ron and the City of Brass" by L. Sprague de Camp
"An Exegesis of Howard's Hyborian Tales" by L. Sprague de Camp

Material found only in The Conan Swordbook:
Letter to Harold Preece ("Well, Harold, I'm sorry...") by Robert E. Howard
Letter to August Derleth by Robert E. Howard
"Conan and the Khyber Rifles" by Chuck Hansen and Norman Metcalf
"Response" by E. Hoffman Price

Material found only in The Conan Grimoire:
Letters to Clark Aston Smith (6) by Robert E. Howard
"John Carper and His Electric Barsoom" by Thomas Stratton
"The Agent" by Björn Nyberg
"A Man Named John" by John Pocsik
"I Remember Conan" by Grace A. Warren
"Stamford Bridge" by Poul Anderson
"The Free Speaking Verses" by Poul Anderson
"The Loss of a Son" by Poul Anderson
"Carter's Little Whiskey Stills" by John Boardman
"Ghost Ships" by L. Sprague de Camp
"Tiger in the Rain" by L. Sprague de Camp
"What Really Happened" by C. C. Hebron
"Kush" by L. Sprgue de Camp
"A Furthest Note on the Red Planet" by E. Hoffman Price
"Young Man Mulligan, with Key" by ab varîs
"Drinking Songs from 'Silverlock'" by John Myers Myers

Material found only in The Blade of Conan:
"The Real Hyborian Age" by Lin Carter
"Howard and the Races" by L. Sprague de Camp *
"The Case for Solomon Kane" by John Pocsik
"Stirrups and Scholarship" by L. Sprague de Camp
"Son of Weapons of Choice and/or Necessity" by Jerry E. Pournelle
"The Complete Duelist" by L. Sprague de Camp
"Rearming the Incomplete Enchanter" by Jerry E. Pournelle

Material found only in The Spell of Conan:
"Skald in the Post Oaks" by L. Sprague de Camp *
"The Ghost of Camp Colorado" by Robert E. Howard *
"Thoth Amon's Complaint" by L. Sprague de Camp *
"The Insidious Doctor Conan" by L. Sprague de Camp
"The Conans of Albion" by L. Sprague de Camp
"Howard and the Celts" by L. Sprague de Camp *
"The Heroic Barbarian" by L. Sprague de Camp *

(This article was originally published in the February 1999 issue of the Robert E. Howard United Press Association, copyright © 1999 Edward Waterman)