In October 1912 one of the greatest literary characters of the 20th Century was created by the pen of one Edgar Rice Burroughs - Tarzan of the Apes. The story of the boy who was raised by apes and later claimed his birthright as Lord Greystoke first appeared in the pulp All Story Magazine as Tarzan of the Apes - A Romance of the Jungle and later released as a novel under the title "Tarzan of the Apes.

Edgar Rice Burroughs also wrote two children's books featuring Tarzan -- Tarzan and the Tarzan Twins and Tarzan and the Tarzan Twins with Jad-bal-ja the Golden Lion. The Eternal Savage, originally released as The Eternal Lover isn't really a Tarzan novel, but it is set on Tarzan's estate in Africa and Tarzan as Lord Greystoke is one of the supporting characters in the novel. The last Tarzan book released before Burroughs' death was Tarzan and the Foreign Legion. After his death More Tazan books were released from collections of his short novellas and manuscripts he left behind.

Other apocryphal Tarzan novels have appeared since Burrough's death in 1950. There were 5 unauthorized Tarzan novels written in 1964 and 1965 by Barton (Peter & Peggy Scott) Werper. These novels where written without the permission of Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc. and flagrantly plagerised from other Burroughs Tarzan novles with entire passages sometimes lifted nearly word for word. Eventually a federal court order ceased the infringements and the remaining shelf copies of the books where destroyed. Fritz Lieber wrote Tarzan and the Valley of Gold, an adaptation of the movie of the same name in 1966. There was one uncompleted manuscript left behind by Burroughs. In 1995 Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc. gave permission to Joe R. Lansdale to finish the manuscript and it was released as Tarzan: The Lost Adventure. Tarzan: The Epic Adventures is an adaptation of the pilot movie of the short lived television show of the same name that ran from 1996 to 1997 and was written by fantasy author R. A. Salvatore. Philip José Farmer wrote a fictional biography of Lord Greystoke as Tarzan Alive in 1972 and later wrote a full Tarzan novel Tarzan: The Dark Heart of Time in 1999.