The Gault Papers
The following information was compiled and posted to the Internet by the late R.T. "Ditch" Gault under the title "Bibliographic Information on Talbot Mundy's Tibetan, Jimgrim, and Tros Story Series." After Gault's death, the site disappeared. Yet the info it contained is quite valuable to readers of Talbot Mundy, and several sites had linked to Gault's information.
Thanks to Carl William Thiel, who had saved the info from Gault's site, I'm able to present it here. I've edited it slightly to provide some consistency in mechanics and grammar.
Also, to make using the information easier, I've broken the single, long file into four documents: "Mundy's Tibetan Stories," "Mundy's Jimgrim Saga," "Mundy's Tros Saga," and "Omnibus Editions & Nonfiction." Click on the titles here to go to the section you wish to see.
With thanks to Mike Chomko, publisher of the pulp fanzine Purple Prose, I was able to contact the Gault family. Karen Gault kindly responded in this manner:
"What a pleasant surprise to get your EMail! I enjoyed looking through your site and am happy that someone saved Ditch's site info on Mundy and is using it to reach an interested audience. You may use it with my blessing."
Our thanks to Mike and especially to Karen.
Bibliographic Information on Talbot Mundy's Jimgrim Series
Stories concerning James Grim (Jimgrim) formed the longest sustained series written by Talbot Mundy. The series ran from 1922 until 1932. Jimgrim supposedly died in Jimgrim (1930-31). Mundy did not take this seriously, knowing full well that he could bring him back whenever he needed to. Later titles with Chullunder Ghose as the protagonist are seen, here, as final parts of the "Jimgrim Saga." Also included are several precursors to the Jimgrim saga that were written before 1922, utilizing characters who were eventually worked into the Jimgrim universe.
The Jimgrim books were not published in logical or sequential order. All stories, known, are given below in the order they were published in Adventure magazine. This is believed to be the general sequential order of the stories as well.
Not all of the Jimgrim stories that appeared in magazine form were published in book editions. More Jimgrim stories appeared in English book editions than in American editions. This may hint that the Jimgrim stories were more popular in England than in America.
Most of these stories were defined by the magazines as "novels," though many of them would be defined today as "short novels." A typical Mundy installment in Adventure ran from 50,000 to 60,000 words. None of the Jimgrim stories are listed as "Short Stories" in Grant's bibliographies of Mundy's works, so all Jimgrim magazine stories have been considered uniformly throughout.
All original Jimgrim stories were published in Adventure (abbreviated A) unless otherwise noted. Reprints and later editions have been ignored. Date at extreme left is the year of first publication.
Early Works that relate to the "Jimgrim Saga":
1914. A Soldier and a Gentleman. A: November 1914. No book publication. Introduces the Princess Yasmini, heroine of King -- of the Khyber Rifles (1916) and early Jimgrim tales. Yasmini is a well-known prototype (and also an archetype) known as the "dangerous woman." In most of the stories in which she appears she is often a double agent, playing off two employers while proceeding with her own agenda.
1915. Winds of the World. A: 3 installments, July - September 1915. First English ed: Constable & Co (1916). First American ed: Bobbs Merrill Co (1917). Princess Yasmini.
1916. King -- of the Khyber Rifles. Everybody's Magazine, 9 installments beginning May 1916. Frist ed: Bobbs-Merrill Co. (1916). First English ed.: King, of..., Constable & Co. (1917). Many subsequent rpts. Introduces Athelstan King, who appears in the Jimgrim tales. King is the prototype of Mundy's British colonial secret service agents.
1921. Guns of the Gods. A: 4 installments, 3 March - 3 May 1921. First American ed.: Bobbs-Merill Co, (June 1921). First English ed.: Hutchinson & Co. (November 1921). The youth of Princess Yasmini.
The Jimgrim Saga:
1921. Jimgrim and Allah's Peace. A: Adventure of El Karak, 10 November 1921, and Under the Dome of the Rock, 10 December 1912. First English ed.: Hutchinson & Co. (1933). First American ed.: D. Appleton-Century Co (1936). First appearance of Jimgim in Mundy's work. In the early stories he is an American who works for the British Secret Service in the near-east.
1922. Almost all of Mundy's output for this year were Jimgrim related stories.
1922. The "Iblis" at Lud. A: 10 January 1921. No book publication.
1922. The Seventeen Thieves of Elalil. A: 20 February 1921. First English ed.: Hutchinson & Co. (1935). No American book ed.
1922. The Lion of Petra. A: 20 March 1922. First English ed.: Hutchinson & Co. (1932). First American ed., D Appleton-Century Co. (1933).
1922. The Woman Ayisha. A: 20 April 1922. First English ed.: Hutchinson & Co (1930). First American ed.: The Hundred Days and the Woman Ayisha, The Century Co. (1931); dust cover lists title as The Hundred Days (see below, 1930).
1922. The Lost Trooper. A: 30 May 1922. First English ed.: Hutchinson & Co. (1931). No American book ed.
1922. The King in Check. A: 10 July 1922. First English ed.: Hutchinson & Co. (1933). First American ed.: D. Appleton-Century Co. (1934).
1922. A Secret Society. A: 10 August 1922. No book publication. Jimgrim resigns from the British Secret Service to be a free agent.
1922. Moses and Mrs. Aintree. A: 10 September 1922. No book publication.
1922. The Mystery of Khufu's Tomb. A: Khufu's Real Tomb, 10 October 1922. First English ed.: Hutchinson & Co. (1933). First American ed.: D. Appleton-Century Co. (1935).
1922. Caves of Terror. A: The Grey Mahatma, 10 November 1922. First American ed., Garden City Publishing Co. (1924). First English ed.: Hutchinson & Co. (1932). No Jimgrim, but with related characters King, Rasmden, and Yasmini. The first Jimgrim-related story to be set in India rather than in the near-east.
1922. Benefit of Doubt. A: 10 December 1922. See Jungle Jest (below, 1923). Related to Jimgrim tales because of apparency of King. First apparency of Cottswold Ommany, hero of Om.
1923. Jungle Jest. A: Benefit of Doubt (above), Treason, 10 1923, and Diana Against Ephesians. First two stories appeared before The Nine Unknown (below), and the last story directly after. First English ed.: Hutchinson and Co. (1930). First American ed.: the Century Co. (1930). Cottswold Ommany.
1923. The Nine Unknown. A: 5 installments, 30 March - 10 August 1923. First American ed.: Bobbs-Merrill Co., (March 1924). First English ed.: Hutchinson & Co. (June 1924). Jimgrim arrives in India with style. The first of Mundy's genuinely mystical books.
1923. The Marriage of Meldrum Strange. A: 10 October 1923. First English ed.: Hutchinson & Co. (1930). No American book ed. Strange was Jimgrim's millionaire backer after he left the British. Lots of the regular characters, plus Ommany.
1923. The Hundred Days. A: Mohammed's Tooth, 10 December 1923. First English ed.: Hutchinson & Co. (1930). First American ed.: The Hundred Days and the Woman Ayisha (1931). Two novels in one volume (see Woman Ayisha, above).
1924. Om: The Secret of Ahbor Valley, A: 6 installments, 10 October - 30 November 1924. First American ed. Bobbs-Merrill Co. (1924). First English ed. Hutchinson & Co. (1925). Not properly a Jimgrim novel, but Ommany and some of the supporting characters appear in Jimgrim stories. Mundy's sole published output for 1924.
1925. Mundy's entire output for 1925, and the first quarter of 1926, were stories about Tros of Samothrace, which would ultimately be published as Tros of Samothrace (1934), which had more than 949 pages in the American ed.
1926. The Devil's Guard. A: Rasmden, 5 installments, 8 June - 8 August 1926. First American Edition: Bobbs-Merrill (1926). First English ed.: Rasmden, Hutchinson & Co. (1926). Jimgrim and Co. go to Tibet searching for Shambhala.
1927. The Red Flame of Erinpura. A: 1 January 1927. First English ed.: Hutchinson & Co. (1934). No American book ed. Chullunder Ghose is the protagonist.
1930-31. Jimgrim. A: King of the World, 7 installments, 15 November 1930 - 15 February 1931. First American ed.: The Century Co. (March 1931). First English ed. Hutchinson & Co. (April 1931). Global adventure tale with settings in southern France, Egypt, India, Nepal, and Tibet. Jimgrim supposed dead in explosion of villain's monastery near lake Koko Nor.
1931. The Babu. A: 10 October 1931. No book ed. Chullunder Ghose tale.
1931. Case 13. A: 1 January 1932. No book ed. Chullunder Ghose tale.
1931. Chullunder Ghose the Guileless. 1 March 1932. No book ed. Chullunder Ghose tale.
1933. C.I.D. A: 4 installments, 1 March - 15 April 1933. First English ed.: Hutchinson & Co (June 1932). First American ed.: The Century Co. (November 1932). Chullunder Ghose tale. The Adventure installments were published after the book edition was already on sale, an unusual order of things.
1934-5. Mundy's long association with Adventure magazine, and his prolific period as a writer, were coming to an end. Mundy's only new major work for Adventure came in 1935 when he produced a new Tros of Samothrace series for them. This was eventually the novel The Purple Pirate (1935).
- by R.T. Gault
Links:
A very nice Donald M. Grant edition of King -- of the Khyber Rifles, published with great illustrations by Joseph Clement Coll, is also available from Amazon. Click here.
King is available from Amazon in a new trade paperback edition from Wildside Press. Click here to learn more.
The Black Mask site also offers an e-text version of King that you can read online or download in various e-text formats. Click here to visit the site.
The Black Mask site also offers an e-text version of Guns of the Gods that you can read online or download in various e-text formats. Click here to visit the site.
The Caves of Terror is available from Amazon. Click here to learn more about it.
Last Adventurer: The Life of Talbot Mundy by Peter Beresford Ellis is also available from Amazon. This biography may be in short supply. Click here to learn more from Amazon. Also, the book may still be available from the publisher, Donald M. Grant Books. Click here to visit the Grant site.
Talbot Mundy: Messenger of Destiny by Donald M. Grant is also available from Amazon. This book may be in short supply. Click here to learn more from Amazon. Also, the book may still be available from the publisher, Donald M. Grant Books. Click here to visit the Grant site.
Om: The Secret of Ahbor Valley has been reprinted in trade paperback format by Wildside Press. It's available at Amazon. Click here to learn more.
Posted by ds at October 15, 2002 04:33 PM
thanks for rescuing the Mundy material
Posted by: Ira Hrnkin at February 4, 2003 01:34 PM
Thanks for the information on the Jimgrim saga. I wish someone would reprint the earlier Grim stories.
Posted by: William Peacock at April 25, 2003 02:59 PM
I have a 1931 hardback first printing by "The Century Co." Is this book worth anything? It is in really good condition.
Posted by: Craig at June 12, 2003 08:30 PM
By far the best overview on the Jimgrim series I've come across! Thank you thank you thank you. I also wait that wonderful day when someone gets it together to publish all the Jimgrim works. Particularly the Lost Trooper and A Secret Society which are very difficult to find. I only wish Insight Studios that did such a wonderful job with Jimgrim and the Devil at Ludd but abandoned plans with doing the whole series would at least look at getting these two stories out. Short of that, if anyone knows a library that has the Adventure Magazine series on microfiche please post up! :-) Thanks again for doing such a fantastic job with the Jimgrim index.
Posted by: Mark at May 3, 2004 12:49 PM
