Books

New York: Walker and Company, 1969. First Edition. Hardcover. Good/Very Good. Inscribed by Le Guin on the half-title page. Good in an about Very Good jacket, unclipped ($4.95), bumped at the edges, stained at the foot of the spine and with a small amount of residue above the Walker insignia, a tear at the top of the back flap. Grey paper on the boards, ghost marks at the top and bottom edges. Bound with reading wear and a forward lean, spotted blue top stain with some slight rippling, glue residude on the front endpaper, "cop. 1" written on the title page, clean otherwise. Overall, a minimally marred ex-library copy of this science fiction classic, ranked by Locus as the second-best science fiction novel after Dune.

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.

Look for the mention of 'Ace Books' as the publisher, lack of subsequent ISBN, and the presence of a statement of 'First edition'.