Patrick H. Adkins Comments ERB-APA #9: A Reply

You may recall that back in ERB-APA #3 I requested information tying the Greystoke family in with the adventures of Sherlock Holmes. No one responded, but here are some things I dug up on my own.

  • In part 3 of How Old Is Tarzan, which appears in ERB-APA #12, I will point out the possible connection between Doyle and Tarzan's original family name Bloomstoke.
  • For a possible connection between Black Michael and Black Peter see Tarzine #44. This Sherlock Holmes-related article's main objective is to review Dale L. Walker, John Harwood, and Phil Farmer's 1888-based theory that Black Michael of Tarzan Of The Apes and Black Peter of The Adventure Of Black Peter could be the same man. More importantly, the article goes on to show that Black Michael and Black Peter could also be the same man even if Greystoke's 1872 sailing date is excepted.
  • For a connection between Doyle's John Clayton of The Hound Of Baskervilles and Burroughs' Clayton family refer to my article Investigating The Greystoke Family in ERB-APA #5 and watch for my article The John Clayton Mystery which will be appearing in a future Tarzine.
  • Some Tarzan researchers go so far as to believe the Greystoke family is actually the Holderness family of The Adventure Of The Priory School. The 6th Duke of Holderness is supposedly Tarzan. James Wilder, the Duke's illegitimate son, is Korak. Arthur, Lord Saltire, who is kidnapped at age ten, is Jack Clayton.  
  • Those same researchers also attach The Adventures Of Charles Augustus Milverton by saying the 6th Duke's wife, Lord Saltire's mother, was the unnamed lady who shot down, "the worst man in London."
  • In The Adventure Of The Blanched Soldier, Holmes mentions that he is clearing up the Greyminster case.  
  • As you mentioned, Burroughs' interest in Sherlock Holmes creeps into The Son Of Tarzan. In chapter 4 it is stated, "Herr Skopf - was baffled. He had never heard of Sherlock Holmes or he would have lost no time in invoking the aid of the celebrated sleuth, for here was a real mystery." ERB-The Son Of Tarzan.
  • There is much likelihood that Tarzan And The Lion Man is connected to The Adventure Of The Creeping Man. Doyle's story has a scientist, H. Lowenstein, who has discovered the Serum of Anthropoid and partially develops gorilla characteristics. Burroughs' story portrays an old man called God who has also wielded gorilla characteristics through experiments with genes.
  • Again Burroughs's interest in Sherlock Holmes surfaces on January 4, 1939. The author wrote both Kennicott at Blue Book and Byrne at Munsey and stated, "I have in mind combining the Northwest Mounted Police and super-sleuth ideas, and making Tarzan something of a jungle Sherlock Holmes." (Murder In The Jungle).

ERB-APA #9
ERB-APA #9







About The Author


James Michael Moody is a lifelong fan and collector of Edger Rice Burroughs. Moody has contributed over two hundred articles to various ERB-related fanzines, over a span of forty-five years. He also manages an unauthorized Tarzan blog titled, Greystoke Chronologist: James Michael Moody. There the researcher chronologies the Tarzan books starting in May 1872 (known as the pushback theory) instead of the more excepted date May 1888.


James Michael Moody is also the author of the action-packed Sci-Fi fantasy adventure Unium series. Pioneers On Unium, published December 31, 2019, and Exiled On Unium, published August 25, 2022. Swordsman On Unium is going through the publishing process.





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