‘The Nomad Of Time’

The Nomad Of Time

New York:  Doubleday (via the Science Fiction Book Club), 1982 (December) but undated hardcover;
original (club) price: $5·98;
442 pages;
I.S.B.N.: none (code: 6484);
cover artist: Fred Labitzke.

The Nomad Of Time is an omnibus of Moorcock’s proto-steampunk trilogy featuring Oswald Bastable, the titular Nomad of Time, which (like the Cornelius books) tackles head-on the legacies of British imperialism — Empire gone sour — and collects The Warlord Of The Air (1971), The Land Leviathan (1974) and The Steel Tsar (1981). In 1993, it was retitled as A Nomad Of The Time Streams, featuring the first omnibus appearance of uncensored text for The Warlord Of The Air, as well as a substantial expansion/revision of The Steel Tsar. This later version was also, in 2013, title-reverted back to The Nomad Of Time.

First edition

First British edition: Panther/Granada mass-sized paperback, 1984 (November 22nd);
original price:  £2·95;
477 pages (each novel numbered separately);
I.S.B.N.:  0-586-06135-5 (0-583- on copyright page);
cover artist:  Melvyn (Grant).

Reprinted 1985, 1986 (Grafton, £3·50) & 1988 (£3·95).

First expanded/revised edition (by this title): London: Gollancz trade-paperback, 2014 (April 10th);
sub-titled “A Scientific Romance” on title page;
part of the Michael Moorcock Collection;
edited by John Davey;
original price:  £10·99;
xxiv + 548 pages;
includes ‘Introduction To The Michael Moorcock Collection’ by John Clute (pp. vii–xii);
also includes ‘Introduction To The Michael Moorcock Collection’ by Moorcock (pp. xiii–xviii);
I.S.B.N.:  978-0-575-09269-3;
cover artist:  Chris Moeller;
illustrated by James Cawthorn.

Copyright page states “Revised versions”, but should be more accurately ‘Versions contain minor textual amendments’.

Contents (first edition):-
p. 1: The Warlord Of The Air;
p. 157: The Land Leviathan;
p. 303: The Steel Tsar.

Contents (expanded/revised edition):-
p. vii: ‘Introduction To The Michael Moorcock Collection’ (non-fiction) by John Clute;
p. xiii: ‘Introduction To The Michael Moorcock Collection’ (non-fiction) by Moorcock;
p. xx/xxi: Frontispiece by James Cawthorn;
p. xxiii: Contents page;
p. 1: The Warlord Of The Air (as The First Adventure: The Warlord Of The Air on title page);
p. 185: The Land Leviathan (as The Second Adventure: The Land Leviathan on title page);
p. 353: The Steel Tsar (as The Third Adventure: The Steel Tsar on title page);
p. 548: End-piece by Cawthorn.

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