Books

First edition, first printing, presentation copy, inscribed on the title page, "For Peter Chamberlain. Ursula K Le Guin". This science fiction classic was Le Guin's first major success, and a pioneering text in the field of feminist science fiction. The Ace paperback edition precedes Walker's hardback that came out later the same year. Part of the Hainish cycle, The Left Hand of Darkness follows the adventures of a solitary interstellar envoy on the icy planet "Winter" among its ambisexual inhabitants, culminating in the realization of a profound supra-sexual love, discovered through a shared ordeal on the polar ice. It won both the Hugo and Nebula awards for best novel and was ranked by Locus magazine in 1987 as the second most important science fiction novel after Frank Herbert's Dune. The cover illustrations were by the husband-and-wife duo who became famous in the science fiction community for their imaginative drawings. They were jointly awarded the Hugo Award for Best Professional Artist in 1971, making Diane the first woman to win it. Small octavo. Original illustrated wrappers with colour art by Leo and Diane Dillon. With the Science Fiction Book Club membership brochure bound in at pp.128-9, removed at perforated line. Spine lightly faded, creased and worn at foot, covers bright, contents clear: a very good copy. .

The Left Hand of Darkness is a science fiction novel by U.S. writer Ursula K. Le Guin, published in 1969. The novel became immensely popular and established Le Guin's status as a major author of science fiction. The book is a part of the Hainish Cycle, a series of novels by Le Guin, all set in the same universe, where the people of different planets are attempting to co-operate with one another. The novel follows the story of Genly Ai, a human native of Terra, who is sent to the planet Gethen as an envoy of the Ekumen, a loose group of planets. Ai's mission is to persuade the nations of Gethen to join the Ekumen, but he is hindered by lack of understanding of Gethenian culture. Individuals on Gethen are ambisexual, with no fixed sex, which is a central theme in the novel.