The Final Programme
New York: Avon, 1968 (March) mass-sized paperback;
original price: 60¢;
191 pages;
I.S.B.N.: none (code: S351);
cover artist: Harry Douthwaite.
Jerry Cornelius — the ambiguous, amoral, androgynous English Assassin —
The Final Programme is the first volume of the Cornelius tetralogy, its first edition published (purportedly) with unauthorised cuts and/or changes, making the following year’s U.K. edition the first complete (and first illustrated) version. It was collected — partially revised (purportedly) — in The Cornelius Chronicles (1977) with A Cure For Cancer, The English Assassin and The Condition Of Muzak, then fully revised in 1979. In this form it was collected in The Cornelius Chronicles Book One (1988) with A Cure For Cancer only, and later (with all three other titles) in The Cornelius Quartet (1993). The Final Programme is also the first (and, to date, only) Moorcock book to be filmed (q.v.), directed by Robert Fuest, released in the U.K. in 1973 and in the U.S.A. (cut, as The Last Days Of Man On Earth) in 1974.
Boston, MA: Gregg Press hardcover, 1976 (June);
original price: $9·50;
xvi + 168 pages;
includes introduction by Norman Spinrad (pp. v–xv);
I.S.B.N.: 0-8398-2335-5;
no dust-wrapper, no cover artist;
interior artists: Richard Gid Powers (frontispiece) and Malcolm Dean (including title-page drawing).
London: Titan trade-paperback,
2016 (February 2nd);
revised text;
edited by John Davey;
original price: $9·95;
255 pages;
I.S.B.N.: 9871783291779;
cover artist: Julia Lloyd;
interior artists: Malcolm Dean & Harry Douthwaite.
First British edition: London: Allison & Busby hardcover, 1969 (October 27th);
original price: 25s;
168 pages;
I.S.B.N.: 85031-012-1;
cover artist: Malcolm Dean (also interior [including title-page drawing]).
London: Mayflower mass-sized paperback, 1971 (January);
original price: 5/-;
160 pages;
I.S.B.N.: 583-11822-4;
cover artist: Bob Haberfield;
illustrated by Malcolm Dean;
no title-page drawing.
London: Allison & Busby reprinted hardcover, 1976 (October [or possibly Feb. ’77]);
original price: £3·95;
168 pages;
I.S.B.N.: 0-85031-012-1 (85031-012-1 on copyright page);
cover artist: Richard Glyn Jones;
illustrated by Malcolm Dean (including title-page drawing).
First revised edition: Glasgow: Fontana paperback, 1979 (June 28th);
original price: 85p;
223 pages;
I.S.B.N.: 0-00-615341-0;
cover artist: Bill Sanderson;
introduction (‘The Repossession Of Jerry Cornelius’) by John Clute;
illustrated by Malcolm Dean (including title-page drawing).
N.B.: The revised (Fontana) edition contains the following note: “Although these books may be read in any order, the reader might wish to know that the structure of the last volume reflects the structure of the overall tetralogy.”
(Followed by A Cure For Cancer)
(Click here for Foreign Editions)
The Final Programme is also available as an e-book: 9871783291762.
A selection of recent (twenty-first century) video release covers:-
Moorcography.org 