First edition. Thick 8vo. Pp. [x], 782, [8]. Black cloth boards, blocked and lettered in blind to spine; white endpapers. All edges stained black. Frontis., and full-page b/w illus. by Portia Rosenberg. Sewn-in white silk ribbon. Black dustjacket printed in white in a design by William Webb. Issued simultaneously in cream boards with a cream dustjacket (no priority established).
An immaculate copy.
Author's first novel. Ten years in gestation, an occult fantasy set in an alternate England during the Napoleonic Wars, where two practicing magicians align forces in the war against Bonaparte. Time magazine's #1 book of the year. Winner of the 2005 Hugo Award, the World Fantasy Award, and the Locus Award for best first novel. Shortlisted for the Whitbread First Novel Award and the Guardian First Book Award. Longlisted for the 2004 Man Booker Prize. Basis for the seven-part BBC One mini-series, broadcast in May and June 2015. "[U]nquestionably the finest English novel of the fantastic written in the last 70 years." –Neil Gaiman