The Eternal Champion (novel)
(Click here for The Eternal Champion omnibus)
New York: Dell, 1970 (April) mass-sized paperback;
original price: 60¢;
188 pages;
I.S.B.N.: 440-02383;
cover artist: Frank Frazetta.
First volume in a cornerstone series central to the overarching theme of Moorcock’s entire oeuvre, the Eternal Champion in various incarnations throughout the multiverse, forever fighting for one side or the other as Law and Chaos battle for control of the Cosmic Balance. The Eternal Champion (featuring John Daker/Erekosë as the Champion) was an expansion of a novella of the same name (in Science Fantasy, 1962) (q.v.), which itself was apparently developed from an earlier version said to have appeared in a mid-1950s Moorcock-edited fanzine called Avilion, a copy of which has never surfaced. As a novel it was revised in 1978, and was later collected thus in The Eternal Champion (omnibus, 1992).
First revised & first hardcover edition: New York: Harper & Row h/c, 1978 (February);
sub-titled “A Fantastic Romance” on title page;
original price: $9·95;
x + 181 pages;
includes ‘Preface To The Revised Edition’ by Moorcock (pp. vii–ix);
also includes ‘Author’s Note: The Eternal Champion Cycle’ (pp. 180/181);
I.S.B.N.: 0-06-013014-8;
cover artist: Paul Stinson.
First paperback edition (of revised text): New York: Dell mass-sized p/b, 1979 (August);
no sub-title;
original price: $1·95;
237 pages;
I.S.B.N.: 0-440-12383-6;
cover artist: Boris Vallejo.
New York: Berkley mass-sized p/b, 1987 (February);
unrevised text;
original price: $2·95;
188 pages;
I.S.B.N.: 0-440-12383-6;
cover artist: Robert Gould.
London: Titan trade-sized paperback, 2014 (November 4th);
sub-titled “A Fantastic Romance” on title page;
alternatively sub-titled “The Eternal Champion Sequence Book One” on front cover;
revised text;
edited by John Davey;
original price: $9·95;
232 pages;
I.S.B.N.: 9871783291618;
cover artist: “Dreamtime”.
First British edition: London: Mayflower mass-sized paperback, 1970 (June);
original price: 5/-;
159 pages;
I.S.B.N.: 583-11745-7;
cover artist: Bob Habberfield (sic).
London: Grafton paperback, 1990 (March 29th);
original price: £2·99;
I.S.B.N.: 0-586-20813-5;
cover artist: Mark Salwowski.
(Followed by Phoenix In Obsidian [a.k.a. The Silver Warriors])
(Click here for Foreign Editions)
The Eternal Champion is also available as e-books: 9780575092662 (U.K.) & 9871783291588 (U.S.A.).
Moorcography.org 