‘Fantasy: The 100 Best Books’

Fantasy: The 100 Best Books
(non-fiction)

London:  Xanadu, 1988 (November 11th) standard & limited-edition hardcovers;
by James Cawthorn & Michael Moorcock;
original prices:  £9·99 (std. ed.), £30·00 (ltd. ed. [fifty signed copies]);
216 pages;
I.S.B.N.:  0-947761-24-1 (both editions);
cover artist:  unknown.

Fantasy: The 100 Best Books, credited jointly to Cawthorn & Moorcock, is (as the title suggests) their choice of one hundred fantasy novels — see below — with a two-page entry on each. Originally planned as a full collaboration, Moorcock’s eventual physical contribution was a brief introduction and the hundredth entry, that being a reprint of a contemporaneous Los Angeles Times review.

Contents (all editions):-
p. 8:  ‘Introduction[s]’;
p. 11:  Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift (1726);
p. 13:  The Castle Of Otranto by Horace Walpole (1765);
p. 15:  Vathek by William Beckford (1786);
p. 17:  The Monk by Matthew Gregory Lewis (1796);
p. 19:  Frankenstein by Mary Shelley (1818);
p. 21:  Melmoth The Wanderer by Charles Robert Maturin (1820);
p. 23:  The Narrative Of Arthur Gordon Pym by Edgar Allan Poe (1838);
p. 25:  A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens (1843);
p. 27:  Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë (1847);
p. 29:  Moby-Dick by Herman Melville (1851);
p. 31:  Uncle Silas: A Tale Of Bartram-Haugh by J. Sheridan LeFanu (1864);
p. 33:  Alice’s Adventures In Wonderland (1865) and Through The Looking-Glass (1871) by Lewis Carroll;
p. 35:  Flatland by Edwin A. Abbott (1884);
p. 37:  She by Henry Rider Haggard (1886);
p. 39:  Doctor Jekyll And Mr Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson (1886);
p. 41:  The Twilight Of The Gods by Richard Garnett (1888);
p. 43:  The Story Of The Glittering Plain by William Morris (1891);
p. 45:  The Picture Of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde (1891);
p. 47:  Dracula by Bram Stoker (1897);
p. 49:  The Turn Of The Screw by Henry James (1898);
p. 51:  The Man Who Was Thursday by G.K. Chesterton (1908);
p. 53:  The House On The Borderland by William Hope Hodgson (1908);
p. 55:  Black Magic by Marjorie Bowen (1909);
p. 57:  Zuleika Dobson by Max Beerbohm (1911);
p. 59:  A Princess Of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs (1911);
p. 61:  Tarzan Of The Apes by Burroughs (1912);
p. 63:  The Lost World by Arthur Conan Doyle (1912);
p. 65:  The Night Land by Hodgson (1912);
p. 67:  Herland by Charlotte Perkins Gilman (1915);
p. 69:  The Citadel Of Fear by Francis Stevens (1918);
p. 71:  A Voyage To Arcturus by David Lindsay (1920);
p. 73:  The Worm Ouroboros by E.R. Eddison (1922);
p. 75:  The Haunted Woman by Lindsay (1922);
p. 77:  Lady Into Fox (1922) and A Man In The Zoo (1924) by David Garnett;
p. 79:  The King of Elfland’s Daughter by Lord Dunsany (1924);
p. 81:  The Ship Of Ishtar by Abraham Merritt (as A. Merritt on title page) (1926);
p. 83:  The Trial (1925) and The Castle (1926) by Franz Kafka;
p. 85:  Witch Wood by John Buchan (1927);
p. 87:  War In Heaven by Charles Williams (1930);
p. 89:  Turnabout by Thorne Smith (1931);
p. 91:  The Night Life Of The Gods by Smith (1931);
p. 93:  Dwellers In The Mirage by Merritt (1932);
p. 95:  Zothique by Clark Ashton Smith (1932–’51);
p. 97:  The Werewolf Of Paris by Guy Endore (1933);
p. 99:  Lost Horizon by James Hilton (1933);
p. 101:  Northwest Smith by Catherine L. Moore (as C.L. Moore on title page) (1933–’40);
p. 103:  Jirel Of Joiry by Moore (1934–’39);
p. 105:  The Circus Of Dr Lao by Charles G. Finney (1935);
p. 107:  Land Under England by Joseph O’Neill (1935);
p. 109:  Conan The Conqueror by Robert E. Howard (1935/’36);
p. 111:  At The Mountains Of Madness by H.P. Lovecraft (1936);
p. 113:  To Walk The Night by William Sloane (1937);
p. 115:  Roads by Seabury Quinn (1938);
p. 117:  The Once And Future King by T.H. White (1939–’77);
p. 119:  Slaves Of Sleep by L. Ron Hubbard (1939);
p. 121:  Caravan For China by Frank S. Stuart (as Frank R. Stuart on contents page) (1939);
p. 123:  Fear by Hubbard (1940);
p. 125:  Darker Than You Think by Jack Williamson (1940);
p. 127:  The Case Of Charles Dexter Ward by Lovecraft (1941);
p. 129:  Land Of Unreason by Fletcher Pratt & L. Sprague de Camp (1941);
p. 131:  Conjure Wife by Fritz Leiber (1943);
p. 133:  The Book Of Ptath by A.E. van Vogt (1943);
p. 135:  The Dark World and The Valley Of The Flame by Henry Kuttner (1946);
p. 137:  Titus Groan (1946), Gormenghast (1950) and Titus Alone (1959) by Mervyn Peake;
p. 139:  The Exploits Of Engelbrecht by Maurice Richardson (1946);
p. 141:  Mistress Masham’s Repose by White (1946);
p. 143:  Adept’s Gambit by Leiber (1947);
p. 145:  The Well Of The Unicorn by Pratt (1948);
p. 147:  You’re All Alone by Leiber (1950);
p. 149:  The Dying Earth by Jack Vance (1950);
p. 151:  The Devil In Velvet by John Dickson Carr (1951);
p. 153:  The Tritonian Ring by de Camp (1951);
p. 155:  Three Hearts And Three Lions by Poul Anderson (1953);
p. 157:  The Sword Of Rhiannon by Leigh Brackett (1953);
p. 159:  The Broken Sword by Anderson (1954);
p. 161:  The Lord Of The Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien (1954/’55);
p. 163:  The Golden Strangers by Henry Treece (1956);
p. 165:  The Great Captains by Treece (1956);
p. 167:  The Haunting Of Hill House by Shirley Jackson (1959);
p. 169:  Stormbringer by Michael Moorcock (1963);
p. 171:  The Serpent (1963), Atlan (1965), The City (1966) and Some Summer Lands (1977) by Jane Gaskell;
p. 173:  The Crystal World by J.G. Ballard (1964);
p. 175:  Black Easter (1967) and The Day After Judgement (1968) by James Blish;
p. 177:  Rosemary’s Baby by Ira Levin (1967);
p. 179:  A Wizard Of Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin (1968);
p. 181:  The Green Man by Kingsley Amis (1969);
p. 183:  Neither The Sea Nor The Sand by Gordon Honeycombe (1969);
p. 185:  The Philosopher’s Stone by Colin Wilson (1969);
p. 187:  The Pastel City by M. John Harrison (1971);
p. 189:  The Infernal Desire Machines Of Dr Hoffman by Angela Carter (1972);
p. 191:  Red Shift by Alan Garner (1973);
p. 193:  The Compleat Enchanter by de Camp & Pratt (1975);
p. 195:  The Alteration by Amis (1976);
p. 197:  Our Lady Of Darkness by Leiber (1977);
p. 199:  The Drawing Of The Dark by Tim Powers (1979);
p. 201:  The Sending by Geoffrey Household (1980);
p. 203:  The Colour Of Magic and The Light Fantastic (as The Light Fantastic only, on title page) by Terry Pratchett (1983);
p. 205:  The Businessman: A Tale Of Terror by Thomas M. Disch (1984);
p. 207:  Hawksmoor by Peter Ackroyd (1985);
p. 209:  Expecting Someone Taller by Tom Holt (1987);
p. 211:  Index.

(Click here for Foreign Edition)

Fantasy: The 100 Best Books is also available as an e-book — 9781473219847 — as Fantasy: The 101 Best Books, as by Michael Moorcock and James Cawthorn, including the addition of an entry on Mythago Wood by Robert Holdstock (1984), that being a reprint of Moorcock’s contribution to Horror: The 100 Best Books (also Xanadu, Nov. ’88).