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Synopsis
Light wear to boards, front inside hinge cracked. Content is clean and bright. Good DJ with little edge wear
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Review
The very talented Samuel R. Delany was only 20 when his first SF novel The Jewels of Aptor appeared in 1962--or rather, two-thirds of it appeared from a US publisher which cut the text savagely. Here's the full version of a story crammed with poetry, colour and action.
Delany's stylish narrative serves up a mass of familiar science-fantasy props with a flair that makes them seem fresh. Long after nuclear holocaust, the rebuilding has got as far as wooden sailing ships. Mysterious fragments of old technology remain. Deadly radioactive zones spawn mutants and monsters with odd talents. "Good" and "evil" religions clash, even though the litanies of bright goddess Argo and dark god Hamaare are very nearly the same. Serving Argo, our heroes sail from civilized Leptar to the loathed, feared island of Aptor to seek the last of Hama's three mind-amplifying Jewels, weapons ultimately too dreadful to use.
Despite some youthful clumsiness, the flash and dazzle of the storytelling established Delany as a writer to watch. He goes beyond the usual homilies about misuse of power to examine distortion of religious feeling, and how a genuinely transcendent insight (as experienced by the worst villain here) can twist into evil. The living incarnation of Hama is not as expected, while devout Argo-worshippers may also be monstrous shapeshifters: "The nature of the Goddess is change ..."
The Jewels of Aptor is thoughtful, exciting, occasionally comic, and promises remarkable things to follow. Delany has amply fulfilled that promise. --David Langford
Book Description
The brilliantly exuberant first novel that launched one of the most distinguished careers in sf.
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The jewels of Aptor, ([Gollancz SF])
Seller: Southern Maryland Books, Waldorf, MD, U.S.A.
Seller rating 5 out of 5 stars
hardcover. Condition: Fine. Dust Jacket Condition: mylar covered - very good. Hardcover. Minor wear to the mylar covered dust jacket. Little cover wear. Clean unmarked text. Tight binding. ** WE SHIP DAILY (Mon-Fri) ** Free Tracking Information. Seller Inventory # mon0000108852
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The Jewels of Aptor
Published by
Victor Gollancz Ltd, London, 1968
ISBN 10: 0575001313
ISBN 13: 9780575001312
Used
Hardcover
First Edition
Seller: Raymond Tait, Beccles, SUFFO, United Kingdom
Seller rating 5 out of 5 stars
Original Cloth. Condition: Very Good. Dust Jacket Condition: Very Good. First Edition. First hardcover and first UK edition. Originally published in the US as a paperback original Ace Double in 1962 along with Second Ending by James White. The boards are clean and unmarked. The top edges of the pages are very slightly browned but the pages are otherwise unmarked. The jacket has a one inch patch of damage to the right hand edge of the front panel where there are two small holes. Some light edge wear and slight surface discolouration but no other faults. First printing. Seller Inventory # 015007
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THE JEWELS OF APTOR
Published by
Gollancz, London, 1968
ISBN 10: 0575001313
ISBN 13: 9780575001312
Used
Hardcover
First Edition
Seller: Currey, L.W. Inc. ABAA/ILAB, Elizabethtown, NY, U.S.A.
Seller rating 5 out of 5 stars
Octavo, boards. First British (and first hardcover) edition. The author's first book. Text follows that of the revised 1968 Ace edition. "In a post-holocaust world, a group of young people set out on a quest for a wonderful jewel. Baroque far-future stuff, exuberantly inventive. Delay's debut (he was all of 19 when he wrote it)." - Pringle, The Ultimate Guide to Science Fiction, second edition (1995), p. 195. A fine copy in fine dust jacket with just a hint of general dust soiling and clipped price. (#149117). Seller Inventory # 149117
Seller Image
The Jewels of Aptor
Published by
Victor Gollancz, London, 1968
ISBN 10: 0575001313
ISBN 13: 9780575001312
Used
Hardcover
First Edition
Signed
Seller: Downtown Brown Books, Portland, OR, U.S.A.
Seller rating 5 out of 5 stars
Hardcover. Condition: Fine. Dust Jacket Condition: Near fine. First Edition. The first hardcover edition of the author's first book, published as an Ace Double about the time he turned 20. This edition follows the second American edition, based on Delany's original manuscript, which was about 30% longer than the first edition. In 1976, the Gregg Press published Delany's preferred text. 189, [3:blank] pages. First hardcover edition, first printing (with no indication of later printings). A fine copy in a near fine dust jacket with a £1.25 price sticker over the original 25/- printed price. The price probably dates to 1971, when the UK switched to decimal currency. The two prices are the same otherwise. This copy is inscribed to David Hartwell, an editor at Gregg Press. Hartwell's private press also published Delany. Hartwell later edited Delany's Hugo Award-winning memoir, The Motion of Light in Water. A nice association copy. "Best to David Hartwell- -from Samuel R. Delany. n.y.c. 79.". Signed. Seller Inventory # 46219