May 23, 2025 and 112 years ago on this day in 1913, Rand McNally rejected the novel, “Tarzan of the Apes,” only one day after they received the submission from Edgar Rice Burroughs. Rand McNally sold map books. It’s 112 years later and map books have virtually vanished. Nice call, guys. When I realize that McNally only gave Tarzan a cursory glance before sending it back, I remember a quotation that I learned at the University of Oklahoma from a friend named Dave Curtis. I’m sure I’ll mangle it here. Sorry, Dave.
“Less we forget or leave a lesson yet unlearned, this was the least of the price we paid for having left one stone unturned.”
Rand McNally is an American company that provides mapping software and hardware for consumer electronics, commercial transportation, and education markets. The company is headquartered in Illinois with a distribution center in Kentucky. I expect that a lot more people are interested in the location of the Jewel Vaults of Opar than are interested in the highway to the Rand McNally offices.
Publishing details, numerous illustrations and a complete Ebook of “Tarzan of the Apes,” are available at: https://www.erbzine.com/mag4/0483.html
The fictional drabble, “Royalties be Dammed, for today is a conversation between Rand and McNally. While the conversation is fictional, the conclusion isn’t.
Rand said, “That writer, Edgar Rice Burroughs,” sent us his Tarzan novel. It was a great success for All-Story Magazine. I’ve already read it. I think you should.”
“I’ve read it myself,” answered McNally. “Just return it. We publish maps.”
“We published ‘Mother Goose, why not Tarzan?”
“Think about our business plan. We don’t pay author royalties on maps. We keep all the earnings.”
“And Mother Goose?”
“Don’t be a silly goose, we don’t pay royalties there either. We’ll never be successful if we have to share our profits with writers. Send Tarzan back to the jungle whence he came.”
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