Edgar Rice Burroughs (September 1, 1875 - March 19, 1950) was an American writer best known for his creations of the jungle hero Tarzan and the heroic Mars adventurer John Carter, although he produced works in many genres.

Aiming his work at the pulps, Burroughs had his first story, Under the Moons of Mars, serialized in The All-Story in 1912 - under the name "Norman Bean" to protect his reputation. Under the Moons of Mars inaugurated the Barsoom series and earned Burroughs [...]. It was first published as a book in 1917, entitled A Princess of Mars, after three Barsoom sequels had appeared as serials and McClurg had published the first four serial Tarzan novels as books.

Burroughs soon took up writing full-time, and by the time the run of Under the Moons of Mars had finished he had completed two novels, including Tarzan of the Apes. Burroughs also wrote popular science fiction and fantasy stories involving adventurers from Earth transported to various planets (notably Barsoom, Burroughs's fictional name for Mars), lost islands, and into the interior of the hollow earth in his Pellucidar stories. He also wrote westerns and historical romances.

Tarzan was a cultural sensation when introduced. Burroughs was determined to capitalize on Tarzan's popularity in every way possible. He planned to exploit Tarzan through several different media including a syndicated Tarzan comic strip, movies and merchandise. Experts in the field advised against this course of action, stating that the different media would just end up competing against each other. Burroughs went ahead, however, and proved the experts wrong - the public wanted Tarzan in whatever fashion he was offered.