‘The Fortress Of The Pearl’

The Fortress Of The Pearl

London:  Gollancz, 1989 (June 8th) hardcover;
sub-titled “An Elric Tale” on title page;
alternatively sub-titled “an Elric novel” on front cover;
original price:  £11·95;
248 pages;
I.S.B.N.:  0-575-04515-9;
cover artist:  Geoff Taylor;
illustrated by James Cawthorn (“Chapter decorations”).

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 Fortress Of The Pearl slots — in terms of the overall saga’s internal narrative chronology — between Elric Of Melniboné (1972) and The Sailor On The Seas Of Fate (1976). It was collected in the Elric Of Melniboné omnibus (1993, retitled and revised as Elric: Song Of The Black Sword in 1995), The Elric Saga Part Three (2003), Elric In The Dream Realms (2009), Elric: The Fortress Of The Pearl (2013) and The Elric Saga Volume One: Elric Of Melniboné (2022).

First edition

First paperback edition: London: Grafton, 1990 (March 29th) trade-sized paperback;
original price:  £7·99;
248 pages;
I.S.B.N.:  0-586-20883-6.

Grafton, 1990 (September 27th) mass-sized paperback;
original price:  £3·50;
269 pages;
I.S.B.N.:  0-586-20884-4.

First American edition: New York: Ace, 1989 (October) hardcover;
sub-titled “An All-New Novel of Elric”
original price:  $16·95;
231 pages;
I.S.B.N.:  0-441-19123-1;
cover artist:  Vince Natale.

+ book-club ed.
Ace, 1990 (December) mass-sized paperback;
original price:  $4·50;
231 pages;
I.S.B.N.:  0-441-24866-7;
cover artist:  Dawn Wilson.

Lakewood, CO: Centipede Press, 2019 (January 17th) hardcover;
dated “2018” on copyright page;
a limited edition of “300 [numbered] signed copies for sale, plus extras for contributors, and a special deluxe edition”;
edited by John Davey;
original price:  $150·00;
302 pages;
I.S.B.N.:  978-1-61347-217-0;
cover artist:  Tom Kidd (also interior);
introduction by Neil Gaiman (pp. 7–9 [7 & 8 in deluxe ed.]);
signed by Moorcock, Kidd & Gaiman.

Includes additional short fiction: ‘The Black Blade’s Song’ (pp. 265–302 [221–254 in deluxe ed.]).
Centipede Press, 2020 (dated 2019) “special oversize deluxe edition, limited to 22 [numbered] copies for sale” (not to scale), in decorated black-and-red slip-case;
original price:  $750·00;
254 pages;
I.S.B.N.:  none;
signed by Moorcock, Kidd & Gaiman.

(Click here for Foreign Editions)