AbeBooks celebrates the character's life by looking back on some great book covers, here.
From the piece...
This first story, Tarzan of the Apes, lays the foundation for the series. It explains how Tarzan is the son of British aristocrats stranded on the Atlantic coast of Africa when he was an infant. After the deaths of his parents, the boy was left to grow up feral in the jungle in the company of apes. As he grows older Tarzan learns of his human heritage and teaches himself to read after finding his parent’s deserted cabin. Tarzan’s real name is John Clayton, Earl Greystoke. Jane Porter is also introduced after also being marooned and Jane becomes a central character in future stories. Burroughs wrote 25 further Tarzan books.
Tarzan has many skills. He is a master of numerous languages and dialects, a physical freak in terms of strength and agility, able to converse with animals, and would win many swimming medals if he competed at the Olympics. Rudyard Kipling’s Mowgli is thought to have influenced Burroughs’ creation of Tarzan – Mowgli’s first appearance was in a short story in 1893.
When it comes to collecting Tarzan books, Tarzan of the Apes is easily the most precious. The 1914 edition will almost certainly be worth around $50,000, when accompanied with a dust jacket. As the series progressed and became more popular, the books were issued with larger first printings, so the cost to acquire each subsequent Tarzan story becomes cheaper.
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