First Cuts: The Drafts and Fragments
Breckinridge Elkins: Rough Trails Volume 1
REH Foundation Press
Year :
April 2026 (Trade paperback)
TBD 2026 (Hardcover)
Book No. : ISBN-13: 9781955446716 (Hardcover)
ISBN-13: 9781955446747 (Trade paperback)
Edition : 1st
Format : Hardcover with dust jacket (6 x 9.25 inches)
Trade paperback (6 x 9.25 inches)
Pages : xxxv plus 352
Cover : Lorence Ferdinand Björklund (From ACTION STORIES, December 1934)
Design by Ståle Gismervik
Illustrations : Original pulp illustrations
Lorence Ferdinand Björklund and Rudolph Belarski

 Breckinridge Elkins: Rough Trails Volume 1
      
Other editions:
None
Home




 
Contents
Acknowledgments
"The Underwood Trails of Breckinridge Elkins"
"Foreword" by Ståle Gismervik
"On Editing Robert E. Howard: A Note on Language, Style, and Fidelity"
"One Gent Too Many on Bear Creek" by Patrice Louinet
Mountain Man
Editorial Notes
"Mountain Man" (Draft 1, untitled, complete)
"Mountain Man" (Draft 2, untitled, complete)
"Mountain Man" (Draft 3, untitled, complete)
Guns of the Mountain
Editorial Notes
"Guns of the Mountains" (Draft 1, untitled, complete)
"Guns of the Mountains" (Draft 2, untitled, complete)
"Guns of the Mountains" (Draft 3, untitled, complete)
"Guns of the Mountains" (Draft 4, untitled, incomplete)
A Gent from Bear Creek (short story)
Editorial Notes
"A Gent from Bear Creek" (Draft 1, untitled, complete)
"A Gent from Bear Creek" ((Draft 1-1, continued from page 17)
"A Gent from Bear Creek" (Draft 1-2, continued from page 17)
"A Gent from Bear Creek" (Draft 2, untitled, complete)
"A Gent from Bear Creek" (Draft 3, titled, complete)
A Stranger in Grizzly Claw / The Scalp Hunter
Editorial Notes
"The Scalp Hunter" (Draft 1, untitled, maybe complete, as "A Stranger in Grizzly Claw")
"The Scalp Hunter" (Draft 2, untitled, complete, as "A Stranger in Grizzly Claw")
The Road to Bear Creek
Editorial Notes
"The Road to Bear Creek" (untitled synopsis)
"The Road to Bear Creek" (Draft 1, untitled, incomplete)
"The Road to Bear Creek" (Draft 2, untitled, complete)
"The Road to Bear Creek" (Draft 3, untitled, complete)
Mayhem and Taxes
Editorial Notes
"Mayhem and Taxes" (Draft 1, untitled, maybe complete)
"Mayhem and Taxes" (Draft 2, untitled, incomplete)
The Haunted Mountain
Editorial Notes
"The Haunted Mountain" (Draft 1, untitled, complete)
"The Haunted Mountain" (Draft 2, untitled, complete)
"The Haunted Mountain" (Draft 3, untitled, complete)
 
Notes
This series collects all of the drafts and synopses for REH's Breckinridge Elkins stories.
Series: Breckinridge Elkins: Rough Trails Book 1 of 4
Concept, transcriptions, layout and project development by Ståle Gismervik, Savage Studios.
All of the Howard stories and portions thereof contained in First Cuts: The Drafts and Fragments – Breckinridge Elkins Rough Trails Volume 1 come from Howard’s original typescripts, manuscripts, and carbons. Virtually all of the typescripts were scanned from the Glenn Lord collection, now at the University of Texas, Austin; the Robert E. Howard collection at Texas A&M University; or the typescript collection at Cross Plains Library.