03/30/2007 was the last update 

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ErleStanleyGardner.com 
Ventura, California

Featuring the Erle Stanley Gardner--Raymond Burr Library & Museum: The World's Most Significant Archive of Personal and Professional Papers, Scripts, Photographs, Costumes, Mementos and Memorabilia in private hands, from the man who created Perry Mason  and Mr. Perry Mason, himself. 

The Erle Stanley Gardner Museum will shortly be open at 748 E. Main Street, Ventura, CA 93001 in the Bank of Books building. You may call Clarey Rudd at 805-643-3154 for more information, or e-mail him at bankofbk@earthlink.net

Bravo Coyote

Bravo Coyote says ---' Help us grow even bigger! Support your World Wide Erle Stanley Gardner web site! '

Ventura, California was the birthplace of the 
most successful fictional lawyer 
in literary history. 

  EMAIL John Anthony Miller

John Anthony Miller with Erle Stanley Gardner's law books. Photo by Keith Burns.

We are down to our last few stacks of books.  It will not be reprinted.

Click here to order ESG's Ventura: 
Birthplace of Perry Mason from Phantom Bookshop

This heavy bronze plaque is  the only public recognition Ventura has to this great author, Erle Stanley Gardner, who was and still is in the year 2007 the unchallenged and undisputed and undeniable  "Mystery King of The Universe" :

The above heavy bronze plaque was privately purchased at no small cost and affixed to the building where his old law office was. The cartoon shown on this page implies  that the City of Ventura put the plaque up. This is in error. This dedicated plaque was provided by donations by the people listed on the plaque.

Hey, just who is this guy, anyway?
Keith Burns, ESG Mobile Museum's  Founder. This was the first mobile 
museum in history to honor Erle Stanley Gardner. 

Keith Burns says: 'Donate now, or be forever square.' 

We are almost out of "Sharks Never Sleep" so order yours below!
We are also down to our last box of "Erle Stanley Gardner's Ventura." 
Neither one of these fine and interesting books will  be reprinted, 
so order your copies now, see below...

We Dedicate This Web Site to our Bus, and 
The Erle Stanley Gardner Mobile Museum,


 We love you, Mr. Bus!

 
"We have made the attempt to reach out to Ventura and the surrounding area, but failed to gain essential support. Our fight is not over. We now go to Phase 2." 
-  Keith Burns, 2005.

A few Erle Stanley Gardner items that we rescued and brought back to Ventura, where they belong to present a total picture of a really fascinating personality who did many positive things to help society become a better place, virtually on all levels. 
 We feel that is important to preserve items that once belonged
to such an important literary figure as Erle Stanley Gardner. If you agree, please help by making a small donation so we may continue our work.

 Shown in the above photograph are Erle Stanley Gardner's myrtle wood table, Panama hat, eyeglasses, ivory cigarette holders he had in his downtown Ventura office,  his baby cup,  incense burners, statues, bottle stoppers, the wrist watch that he wore in the 1930's when living in Ventura (it still runs by the way), film projector, the very first copy off the press, so indicated.....
of The Case of The Lucky Loser as well as some other ephemera. 

What is shown above is just a small fraction of  our holdings.

Click on Erle's thumb to enter the main web site.

Ventura, California was the birthplace of the most
 successful fictional lawyer in literary history. 

Erle Stanley Gardner (1889-1971) not only created  Perry Mason, but was a tireless and world renowned attorney, author, human rights activist, conservationist, naturalist, photographer, astronomer, archaeologist and true Renaissance American. 

A great cartoon by Steve Greenberg of  
The Ventura Star, which appeared May 22, 2003.
 
 

Chinese wood-carved statue From Erle's Ventura  days. Statue is part of the archive of several statues in the Erle Stanley  Gardner Museum in Ventura, CA

The Story of Bravo the Coyote Land of the Free and Home of the Bravo... Read the Keith Burns piece below! After reading this, you will be voting Coyotecratic in 2008! You can read more from Keith by going to The Ojai and Ventura Voice, online, where he writes a witty column.
Here is little Bravo. This was Erle Stanley Gardner's pet coyote. His  most beloved pet, and a favorite of author Raymond Chandler (author of "The Big Sleep") as well. These and many other photographs of  Bravo were shot and developed by ESG.  Playful and friendly Bravo met a tragic end when a group of  hunters  illegally crept onto  Erle's Temecula Ranch and fatally shot him as the little coyote ran up to greet them. This was a tragic event, which is true. Hopefully this story will bring about an awareness to people about conservation of animals and coyotes.. NOTE: The death of his beloved pet Bravo so affected Erle Stanley Gardner that he turned away from being a hunter to an animal rights advocate and writer ! Watch  for  more Bravo photos, including the Christmas album Erle gave Jean Bethell (Della Street), his secretary and only true love, of photos he had taken of their beloved Bravo.
The True Story of The Roadrunner and The Coyote A bit of Gardner history by Keith Burns A decade before Warner Bros. created the legendary cartoon exploits of a little desert Roadrunner and a wily Coyote, Erle Stanley Gardner brought these two icons together for the first time.  For 35 years ESG lived and authored over 100 books on his sprawling ranch in Temecula, California. It was named "Rancho del Paisano." In Spanish "paisano" means "countryman" or "friend." But  everyday  Spanish usage of the word "paisano" means Roadrunner! And the image of a speeding roadrunner adorned Erle's stationary, art, ceramics, statues, ties and many other objects at the ranch. Little Bravo the Coyote shared the ranch, the house, and the life of Erle Stanley Gardner, Jean and his staff and many celebrity visitors.  The symbols of the Roadrunner and The Coyote are forever intertwined with Rancho del Paisano and the life of Erle Stanley Gardner. Did a visitor from Warner Bros. come to  Rancho del Paisano and take home the story of  Erle's favorite creatures? The Roadrunner and The Coyote became one of Warner Bros. most popular and enduring cartoon enterprises. We think it's possible, what do you think?

Sharks Never Sleep  
by William F. Nolan. 

The only mystery book to feature ESG as a character. Only 5000 copies printed. We still have a few copies left over from our 1999 book signing. Signed and dated in Ventura, CA by the author.  
Order this book from Phantom Bookshop. (Only have a few copies left now.)

 
The bus change machine at work in virtual mode! 
Using  Pay Pal make a $5 donation to help

"SHARKS NEVER SLEEP" 

$75
Signed. First edition. About ESG, the ONLY mystery novel with ESG as a character.
by William F. Nolan. 

This is the first  mystery novel  to feature Erle Stanley Gardner as a character in a mystery book. Only 5000 copies first edition copies were printed. We have a few left from our old book signing- 
These were dated and signed in Ventura, CA by William Nolan, the author of  Logan's Run. 
An awesome novel written by one of the world's living literary geniuses. 

Order SHARKS NEVER SLEEP now!!!

Raymond Burr's hat, one that he wore in filming one of the Perry Mason shows. Click on the hat to see more Raymond Burr items. We will be adding more...

THE CULT OF THE BUS 

Click here to see a few shots of The Erle Stanley Gardner-Raymond Burr Library & Mobile Museum on its  March 3, 2003 tour in Ventura, California. 
Click here to see the advertising campaign that was done to promote the exhibit in Ventura.

Click HERE 
to find your 
Erle Stanley Gardner 
book from 
Phantom Bookshop's Gardner book inventory

Click HERE
to search 
Phantom Bookshop
in Ventura, CA
for  any book 
including Erle Stanley Gardner 

 from Phantom Bookshop in Ventura, California, USA, through Amazon.com. 
We have Erle's books that are NOT listed on our database...inquire  we may have it...
"The Case of The Turning Tide" 
is only one example of the ESG books for sale at Phantom Bookshop

This copy was sold, sorry! 
99% of first edition ESG book sales go to other countries! 

Meet your webmaster-host for this site, 
 John Anthony Miller
 

John is the owner of Phantom Bookshop, which is operating out of  Ventura, CA. At one time the famous bookshop was located only feet away from where Gardner worked in the 30's and the old shop was located in a famous courtyard patio next to Gardner's old law office. Circumstances forced the bookshop to move out of  location in downtown.  John grew up as the son of a physician, Zane Edward Miller MD, who once met Gardner as his father worked in a hospital for the criminally insane, as well as evaluating such people in as  a psychiatrist. The famous author and crusader for justice was called in on some kind of consultation at the time in the early 1960's. 

John was born in Tacoma, WA just before the famous Tacoma earthquake.

I

Get you rfavorite Erle Stanley Gardner mystery and glass of fine wine from
Raymond Burr Vineyard and Orchid Nursery!

________________________________________________________________________________

You  may also  purchase a signed and dated copy of  Sharks Never Sleep-A Black Mask Mystery Featuring Erle Stanley Gardner  by William F. Nolan (a World-Class author of the classic science fiction novel  Logan's Run), who did a book signing in Ventura, CA at pir Phantom Bookshop in 1999. This was the first mystery book ever penned  to feature Erle Stanley Gardner as a mystery character in a book, who himself has to be cleared of a crime. For those of you who have more than a passing interest in Gardner, you should definitely have a copy while I have a few left.

This book was written by the author of  "Logan's Run" (currently it is being re-filmed. Any signed book by William F. Nolan more valuable when the film is released. It is sure to be a smash hit.

 The book is signed and dated in Ventura, the "Birthplace of  Perry Mason

 "William F. Nolan Ventura Feb. '99". 

Only 5000 copies of this were printed. 

Click here to order  Sharks Never Sleep from Phantom Bookshop

You may also a copy of  Richard Senate's Erle Stanley Gardner's Ventura: Birthplace of Perry Mason, of  which we have a few copies left as of this date. Acclaimed by the Gardner family. Interesting information about our hero only found in this book.

Click here to order ESG's Ventura: 
Birthplace of Perry Mason from Phantom Bookshop