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Wolfe, Gene.
The Shadow of the Torturer; The Claw of the Conciliator; The Sword of the Lictor; The Citadel of the Autarch; The Urth of the New Sun [The Complete Book of the New Sun Tetraology, plus the Final Coda].
Publisher: Sidgwick & Jackson; Victor Gollancz, London;
Date of Publication: 1980
Stock Code: 14787
All British First Editions. Octavos, pp., 303, [1]; 301, [3]; 301, [1]; 317, [3]; 372. Publisher’s pictorial jackets by Bruce Pennington and Peter Goodfellow, all unclipped except Sword of the Lictor. Publisher’s original midnight blue cloth, titled in silver to spine (tetraology); publisher’s original black cloth, titled in gilt to spine (coda). All bright, fresh, and seemingly unread. A fine set, save for the price-clippling to the jacket of Sword of the Lictor. An absolutely exceptional set of the Book of the New Sun series. Wolfe’s Book of the New Sun is highly acclaimed; each book was nominated for a Nebula award, three of the five were nominated for the Hugo, and all were awarded accolades in the year of their respective publication. One reviewer called the series ‘science fiction’s Ulysses’ (Wright, ‘Mapping a Masterwork’). Wolfe has been celebrated by Harlan Ellison, George R. R. Martin, Neil Gaiman, Patrick O’Leary, Michael Swanwick, and Ursula K. Le Guin, who called Wolfe ‘our Melville’. One critic writes ‘Though neither the most popular nor the most influential author in the sf field, Gene Wolfe is today quite possibly the most important. The inherent stature of his work is deeply impressive and he wears the fictional worlds of sf like a coat of many colors’ (Clute, ‘Encyclopedia’). £1200.00