‘The Bane Of The Black Sword’

The Bane Of The Black Sword

New York:  DAW Books, 1977 (August) mass-sized paperback;
original price:  $1·25;
157 pages;
I.S.B.N.:  0-87997-316-1;
cover artist:  Michael Whelan;
illustrated by John Collier & Walter Romanski (map);
no (individual) hardcover edition.

Elric of Melniboné — proud prince of ruins, kinslayer — call him what you will. He remains, together with maybe Jerry Cornelius, Moorcock’s most enduring, if not always most endearing, character…

The Bane Of The Black Sword is a chronological arrangement of selected contents from The Stealer Of Souls and The Singing Citadel, compiled in order to bring them in line with the developing Elric series. It was collected in The Elric Saga Part Two (1984) with The Vanishing Tower and Stormbringer, and also in The Elric Saga Volume Two: Stormbringer (2022) with those two titles as well as The Revenge Of The Rose.

First edition

First British edition:  London: Panther/Granada, 1984 (May 10th) mass-sized paperback;
“Granada” only, on spine;
original price:  £1·95;
171 pages;
I.S.B.N.:  0-586-06230-0;
cover artist:  Michael Whelan;
no map;
no (individual) hardcover edition.

First British edition (1984), reprinted 1984 (twice), Grafton (1989 & 1990 [twice], £2·99).

Contents (first edition):-
p. 10: ‘The Stealer Of Souls’;
p. 55: ‘Kings In Darkness’ (includes ‘Song Of Veerkad’ by James Cawthorn);
p. 89: ‘The Flamebringers’;
p. 125: ‘To Rescue Tanelorn…’.

DAW reprints

2nd printing, 0-87997-421-4 ($1·50).
3rd & 4th printings, 0-87997-515-6 ($1·75).
5th & 6th printings, 0-87997-628-4 ($1·95).
7th printing, 0-87997-805-8 ($2·25) + later reprints?
New York: Berkley, 1984 (January) paperback;
original price:  $2·50;
157 pages;
I.S.B.N.:  0-425-06537-5;
cover artist:  Robert Gould;
no map.
(+ later reprints)
New York: Ace, 1987 (August) paperback;
original price:  $2·95;
157 pages;
I.S.B.N.:  0-441-04885-4;
cover artist:  Robert Gould;
no map.
(+ later reprints)

(Click here for Graphic Adaptation)

(Click here for Foreign Editions)