‘The Warlord Of The Air’

The Warlord Of The Air

New York: Ace, 1971 (August) mass-sized paperback;
sub-titled “A Scientific Romance” on title page;
original price: 75¢;
187 pages;
I.S.B.N.: 441-87060;
cover artist: David Meltzer;
illustrated by James Cawthorn.

The Warlord Of The Air — sometimes stylised (wrongly) as The War Lord Of The Air — is the first volume of Moorcock’s proto-steampunk trilogy featuring Oswald Bastable, the Nomad of Time, which (like the Cornelius books) tackles head-on the legacies of British imperialism; Empire gone sour. It was collected in The Nomad Of Time (1982), and A Nomad Of The Time Streams (1993) with The Land Leviathan and The Steel Tsar, then revised for further collection in a title-reverted The Nomad Of Time (2013).

It should be noted that all British editions of The Warlord Of The Air, up to but excluding its collection in A Nomad Of The Time Streams, appeared with unauthorised cuts and/or changes. That flawed text was also used for the American (1978) DAW edition — see below — and subsequently for its collection in The Nomad Of Time (1982 ed. only).

First edition
Ace reprint, 1973 (May).

New York: DAW Books, 1978 (May) mass-sized paperback;
follows censored British text;
no sub-title;
original price:  $1·50;
175 pages;
I.S.B.N.:  0-87997-380-3;
cover artist:  Gino D’Achille;
no interior illustrations.

Reprinted twice
4th printing, 0-87997-775-2 ($2·25).
5th printing ($2·50).

London: Titan, 2013 (January 15th) trade-sized paperback;
sub-titled “A Scientific Romance” on title page;
edited by John Davey;
original price:  $9·95;
217 pages;
I.S.B.N.:  9781781161456;
cover artist:  “Amazing15”;
foreword by Kim Newman.

(Click here to see uniform series covers)

First British (& first hardcover) edition: London: New English Library, 1971 (September) h/c;
no sub-title;
original price:  £1·75;
156 pages;
I.S.B.N.:  450-00952-1;
cover artist:  unknown;
no interior illustrations.

New English Library, 1972 (October) mass-sized paperback;
no sub-title;
original price:  30p;
156 pages;
I.S.B.N.:  450-01264-6;
no interior illustrations.

Quartet, 1974 (January) mass-sized paperback;
no sub-title;
original price:  40p;
156 pages;
I.S.B.N.:  0-704-31085-6;
cover artist:  Patrick Woodroffe;
no interior illustrations.

Reprinted 1974; 1975 (50p).

London: Orbit (Quartet), 1976 (December 9th) paperback;
no sub-title;
original price:  60p;
156 pages;
I.S.B.N.:  0-7043-1085-6;
no interior illustrations.

London: Granada, 1981 (June 25th) mass-sized paperback;
no sub-title;
original price: 95p;
156 pages;
I.S.B.N.: 0-583-13434-3;
cover artist: Melvyn (Grant);
no interior illustrations.

Reprinted 1984 (£1·50).

London: Grafton, 1989 (October 26th) mass-sized paperback;
original price:  £2·99;
156 pages;
I.S.B.N.:  0-586-20888-7;
cover artist:  Paul Damon.

(Followed by The Land Leviathan)

(Click here for Foreign Editions)

The Warlord Of The Air is also available as e-books: 9781781161487 (U.S.A.) & 9780575092709 (U.K.).