Edgar Rice Burroughs Books in Order (Updated September 8, 2026)

Edgar Rice Burroughs was an American adventure and science fiction writer best known for creating Tarzan, John Carter of Mars, Pellucidar, and Carson Napier of Venus. His bibliography contains several substantial series, smaller connected sequences, standalone adventures, Westerns, and posthumously published material.

Reading order matters much more for Burroughs than it does for many writers of his period. The opening Barsoom books form a direct sequence, Tarzan develops recurring characters and locations across decades, Pellucidar contains an important Tarzan crossover, and several posthumous books collect stories written much earlier.

Start Here: The Simplest Edgar Rice Burroughs Reading Plan

Best starting point: choose the first book of the world that interests you. Begin Tarzan with Tarzan of the Apes, Barsoom with A Princess of Mars, Pellucidar with At the Earth’s Core, or Venus with Pirates of Venus.

• Tarzan: 24 books make up the standard Burroughs Tarzan sequence used by the Edgar Rice Burroughs Authorized Library.
• Barsoom: read in publication order, beginning with A Princess of Mars.
• Pellucidar: read in publication order and note that Tarzan at the Earth’s Core belongs to both Tarzan and Pellucidar continuity.
• Venus: follow Carson Napier from Pirates of Venus through The Wizard of Venus.
• Caspak: read the three linked stories in order.
• Moon sequence: follow The Moon Maid, The Moon Men, then The Red Hawk, while checking which components are included in your edition.
• Standalone fiction: can generally be read at any point.

John Carter and the Barsoom Books in Order

Barsoom is Burroughs’s version of Mars and one of his most important continuing worlds. John Carter dominates the opening trilogy, while later books increasingly follow other heroes and members of the Carter family.

Publication order is also the recommended reading order. The first three books are particularly continuous and should not be rearranged.

1. A Princess of Mars (first serialized 1912, book edition 1917)
2. The Gods of Mars (first serialized 1913, book edition 1918)
3. The Warlord of Mars (first serialized 1913 to 1914, book edition 1919)
4. Thuvia, Maid of Mars (first serialized 1916, book edition 1920)
5. The Chessmen of Mars (1922)
6. The Master Mind of Mars (first published 1927, book edition 1928)
7. A Fighting Man of Mars (first serialized 1930, book edition 1931)
8. Swords of Mars (first serialized 1934 to 1935, book edition 1936)
9. Synthetic Men of Mars (first serialized 1939, book edition 1940)
10. Llana of Gathol (stories first published in the 1940s, book edition 1948)
11. John Carter of Mars (1964, posthumous collection)

Why the First Three Mars Books Must Stay Together

A Princess of Mars, The Gods of Mars, and The Warlord of Mars effectively form the opening John Carter trilogy. Relationships, political conflicts, and unresolved situations carry directly from one volume into the next.

Readers who stop after the first book have reached a reasonable pause, but anyone continuing should read Books 2 and 3 consecutively. Later Barsoom novels broaden the focus and are somewhat more episodic, although they still benefit from knowledge of the established world.

A Note About John Carter of Mars

John Carter of Mars was published after Burroughs’s death and contains two later Barsoom pieces, John Carter and the Giant of Mars and Skeleton Men of Jupiter. The authorship history of the first piece is complicated, with substantial involvement associated with Burroughs’s son John Coleman Burroughs.

Recommended placement: treat the volume as the final standard Barsoom book, but understand that it is a posthumous collection rather than an eleventh conventional novel written and published in the same form as the earlier books.

The 24 Tarzan Books in the Standard Series Order

Tarzan is Burroughs’s longest major series. The official Edgar Rice Burroughs Authorized Library numbers 24 books, which provides the clearest modern standard for the author’s own Tarzan sequence.

1. Tarzan of the Apes
2. The Return of Tarzan
3. The Beasts of Tarzan
4. The Son of Tarzan
5. Tarzan and the Jewels of Opar
6. Jungle Tales of Tarzan
7. Tarzan the Untamed
8. Tarzan the Terrible
9. Tarzan and the Golden Lion
10. Tarzan and the Ant Men
11. Tarzan, Lord of the Jungle
12. Tarzan and the Lost Empire
13. Tarzan at the Earth’s Core
14. Tarzan the Invincible
15. Tarzan Triumphant
16. Tarzan and the City of Gold
17. Tarzan and the Lion Man
18. Tarzan and the Leopard Men
19. Tarzan’s Quest
20. Tarzan and the Forbidden City
21. Tarzan the Magnificent
22. Tarzan and “The Foreign Legion”
23. Tarzan and the Madman
24. Tarzan and the Castaways

The later books were not necessarily published in the same order in which Burroughs wrote their underlying material. For a first read, however, the established 24-book sequence is substantially easier to follow than trying to reconstruct manuscript chronology.

Where Jungle Tales of Tarzan Fits

Jungle Tales of Tarzan is Book 6 in the standard publication sequence, but its stories concern Tarzan’s youth before the main events of Tarzan of the Apes.

Publication order: read it as Book 6.

Chronological alternative: readers doing a reread may place much of it before Tarzan of the Apes. This gives a more linear biography but reveals aspects of Tarzan that Burroughs originally developed after readers already knew the adult character.

For new readers, publication order remains the better choice.

The Tarzan and Pellucidar Crossover Explained

Tarzan at the Earth’s Core is both Tarzan Book 13 and the fourth major Pellucidar installment. It brings Tarzan into the inner world as part of an expedition connected to David Innes.

This creates the most important crossover in Burroughs’s bibliography. Readers following only Tarzan can understand the basic adventure, but the story has greater context if the first three Pellucidar books have already been read.

Best crossover order:

1. At the Earth’s Core
2. Pellucidar
3. Tanar of Pellucidar
4. Tarzan at the Earth’s Core

If you are completing Tarzan first, you can still read the crossover as Tarzan Book 13 and return to Pellucidar later. The trade-off is that some Pellucidar characters and circumstances will arrive without their full earlier development.

Pellucidar Books in Story Order

Pellucidar is Burroughs’s hollow inner world, populated by prehistoric creatures and isolated civilizations. David Innes is the central figure in the opening books, although later installments broaden the cast.

1. At the Earth’s Core (first serialized 1914)
2. Pellucidar (first serialized 1915)
3. Tanar of Pellucidar (first serialized 1929)
4. Tarzan at the Earth’s Core (first serialized 1929 to 1930)
5. Back to the Stone Age (1937)
6. Land of Terror (1944)
7. Savage Pellucidar (1963, posthumous collection of Pellucidar stories)

Some bibliographies differ over where to place Land of Terror and Savage Pellucidar when using magazine appearance dates rather than final book dates. For a books-in-order page, the stable recommendation is the sequence above, with Savage Pellucidar last because it was assembled and published posthumously as a book.

Carson Napier of Venus Books in Order

Burroughs called Venus Amtor in this series. Carson Napier is the central hero, and the books are much more rewarding when read in sequence because his circumstances, relationships, and knowledge of the planet build from one installment to the next.

1. Pirates of Venus (book edition 1934)
2. Lost on Venus (1935)
3. Carson of Venus (1939)
4. Escape on Venus (1946)
5. The Wizard of Venus (1970, posthumous)

Order matters: begin with Pirates of Venus. Do not use the posthumously published The Wizard of Venus as an entry point merely because some editions package it with other late Burroughs material.

Caspak Trilogy: Three Stories, One Continuing Adventure

Caspak is the prehistoric lost world introduced in The Land That Time Forgot. The sequence consists of three linked stories that have often been published together in a single volume.

1. The Land That Time Forgot (1918)
2. The People That Time Forgot (1918)
3. Out of Time’s Abyss (1918)

These should be read in this order. Characters and discoveries carry across the sequence, even though the narrative focus shifts.

Many editions use The Land That Time Forgot as the title for a volume containing all three parts. Check the contents before purchasing additional editions so that the same Caspak material is not counted twice.

The Moon Trilogy and Its Confusing Editions

The Moon sequence is one of the most bibliographically confusing parts of Burroughs’s work because its three components have appeared in different combinations and under different volume arrangements.

1. The Moon Maid
2. The Moon Men
3. The Red Hawk

The Red Hawk is part of the continuing Moon narrative and has been included with The Moon Men in some editions. Other editions package all three parts together under The Moon Maid.

Recommended rule: follow the three-part narrative order above, but check the table of contents of your edition. You may already own all three components in one or two physical books.

The Mucker Sequence in Order

Billy Byrne is the central character of the first two Mucker stories. The Oakdale Affair connects through Bridge, a character introduced in the wider Mucker material, making it a related third entry rather than an entirely unrelated standalone.

1. The Mucker (1914)
2. The Return of the Mucker (1916)
3. The Oakdale Affair (1917 to 1918)

The first two belong together most directly. The Oakdale Affair is best treated as connected reading for completionists because its strongest continuity link is Bridge rather than Billy Byrne.

Burroughs’s Apache Novels in Order

Burroughs wrote two connected novels centered on the Apache character Shoz-Dijiji. They should be read in publication order.

1. The War Chief (1927)
2. Apache Devil (serialized 1928, book edition 1933)

Continuity: Included. Apache Devil continues the character and belongs after The War Chief.

Important Edgar Rice Burroughs Standalone Novels

Not every Burroughs adventure belongs to Tarzan, Barsoom, or another long sequence. The following are notable independent or effectively self-contained books that can be read without completing one of the major series first.

• The Outlaw of Torn
• The Cave Girl
• The Monster Men
• The Mad King
• The Eternal Lover, also published under the title The Eternal Savage
• Beyond Thirty, also known in later book form as The Lost Continent
• The Girl from Farris’s
• The Land of Hidden Men
• The Deputy Sheriff of Comanche County
• I Am a Barbarian, published posthumously

Several of these works first appeared serially long before their eventual book editions. When comparing bibliographies, distinguish the date the story first appeared from the date it first appeared as a bound book.

Publication Order or Chronological Order?

Publication order is the best default across Burroughs’s bibliography. It preserves introductions, reveals, and the expansion of each fictional world.

Chronological rearrangement is useful only in limited cases. Jungle Tales of Tarzan occurs earlier in Tarzan’s life than its publication position, for example, but moving it to the beginning changes the way Burroughs originally revealed the character.

Barsoom, Venus, Caspak, the Apache books, and the opening Pellucidar sequence should simply be read in their established order. These series gain little from a reconstructed chronology.

A Recommended Route Through the Major Worlds

Readers who want to experience several Burroughs worlds without reading every book can use this sequence:

1. A Princess of Mars
2. The Gods of Mars
3. The Warlord of Mars
4. Tarzan of the Apes
5. The Return of Tarzan
6. At the Earth’s Core
7. Pellucidar
8. The Land That Time Forgot
9. The People That Time Forgot
10. Out of Time’s Abyss
11. Pirates of Venus

This is a sampling route rather than one shared chronology. It introduces Burroughs’s principal adventure worlds while keeping directly connected installments together.

Which Burroughs Books Share Continuity?

• Barsoom: shared continuity, especially strong across the opening trilogy.
• Tarzan: shared continuity with recurring characters, relationships, and lost civilizations.
• Pellucidar: shared continuity centered initially on David Innes.
• Venus: continuing Carson Napier sequence.
• Caspak: three connected stories.
• Moon sequence: multigenerational continuing future history.
• Mucker: first two books directly connected, third related through Bridge.
• Apache novels: two-book Shoz-Dijiji sequence.

Burroughs occasionally created crossovers rather than keeping every world completely isolated. Tarzan at the Earth’s Core is the clearest example and should be recognized as belonging to two established series.

Posthumous Books and Later Authorized Continuations

Edgar Rice Burroughs died in 1950, but unpublished and previously uncollected material continued to appear afterward. This is why books such as Savage Pellucidar, John Carter of Mars, Tarzan and the Madman, Tarzan and the Castaways, and The Wizard of Venus have publication dates after his death.

These should be distinguished from modern authorized continuation novels written by other authors. Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc. now publishes an expanded Edgar Rice Burroughs Universe containing new canonical adventures by later writers.

Separate continuity for this guide: this page covers Burroughs’s own standard bibliography. New novels by later writers should not be inserted into his original publication-order lists unless a reader deliberately wants the expanded modern universe.

Edgar Rice Burroughs Reading Order Questions

What Edgar Rice Burroughs book should I read first?

A Princess of Mars is an excellent starting point for science fiction readers, while Tarzan of the Apes is the natural starting point for the author’s most famous series. Neither requires knowledge of the other.

Do the John Carter books need to be read in order?

Yes. Publication order is strongly recommended, especially for A Princess of Mars, The Gods of Mars, and The Warlord of Mars, which form a closely connected opening sequence.

How many original Tarzan books are there?

The standard Edgar Rice Burroughs Authorized Library numbers 24 Tarzan books by Burroughs, ending with Tarzan and the Castaways.

Should Jungle Tales of Tarzan be read first chronologically?

Not for a first reading. Although its stories concern the young Tarzan, the collection was published after readers already knew the adult character. Reading it as Book 6 preserves the intended publication experience.

Is Tarzan at the Earth’s Core a Tarzan book or a Pellucidar book?

It is both. It is Tarzan Book 13 in the standard Tarzan order and an important installment in the Pellucidar sequence.

How should I read the Caspak stories?

Read The Land That Time Forgot, The People That Time Forgot, and Out of Time’s Abyss in that order. Check whether your edition already contains all three stories.

Is The Moon Maid one book or a trilogy?

The terminology depends on the edition. The continuing narrative consists of The Moon Maid, The Moon Men, and The Red Hawk, but publishers have combined those parts in different ways.

Are modern Tarzan and John Carter novels by other authors part of this list?

No. Modern authorized continuations belong to the expanded Edgar Rice Burroughs Universe and are separate from the original Burroughs bibliography used for this reading order.

Did Edgar Rice Burroughs leave unpublished books?

Yes. Several works and collections appeared posthumously, which explains why the publication histories of Tarzan, Pellucidar, Barsoom, and Venus extend well beyond Burroughs’s death in 1950.

The Best Order for a Complete Burroughs Read

The safest way to read Edgar Rice Burroughs is series by series rather than combining every title into one enormous date list. Start each major world with its first installment and follow publication order from there.

For Tarzan, use the established 24-book sequence. For Barsoom, begin with the tightly connected John Carter trilogy. For Pellucidar, read the first three books before the Tarzan crossover when possible. Venus and Caspak should be read straight through in publication order.

Standalone books can then be added wherever they interest you. This approach preserves continuity without forcing unrelated adventures into a chronology they were never intended to share.