His Dark Materials II. The Subtle Knife.

First edition. 8vo. Pp. [viii], 341. Publisher's green cloth lettered in gilt to spine with gilt-embossed dagger to front board; in-text vignettes. Jacket illustration by David Scutt (priced £12.99 to the inner flap). With the complete number line (2 4 6 8 10 9 7 5 3 1) to copyright page, as some purported first editions lack the number "2" in the sequence.

Second volume in the "Dark Materials" trilogy, preceded by Northern Lights (1995) and book-ended by The Amber Spyglass (2000). A Publishers Weekly Best Book of the Year. A phantasmagorical re-telling of Milton's epic Paradise Lost in this coming of age fantasy of two youngsters, Lyra Belacqua and Will Parry, adept at navigating a multiverse of parallel universes. "A work of genius." –Time Out