Books

First edition, first printing, signed by the author on the title page. This work is the fourth instalment in the Chrestomanci series, which documents Chant's "good-humoured attempts to control the abuse of magic throughout the world" (ODNB). Diana Wynne Jones (1934-2011) was a hugely influential fantasy writer and has been cited as a key inspiration by fellow authors such as Philip Pullman, Terry Pratchett, and J. K. Rowling. She read English at St Anne's College, Oxford, where she was taught by both C. S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkien. Her "extensive knowledge of myth, legend, and fairy tales sat easily with descriptions of contemporary young people, sometimes quarrelling but fundamentally of good heart" (ODNB). In 1999, she was awarded the Karl Edward Wagner prize for "important contribution to the genre" by the British Fantasy Society. The US edition was published first, in May 1988, followed by Methuen's UK edition in August. Octavo. Original orange quarter cloth, spine lettered in gilt, blue paper sides, publisher's imprint on front cover in blind, dark orange endpapers. With dust jacket, designed by Jos. A. Smith. Foot of spine gently bumped: a near-fine copy in fine, unclipped jacket.