The Blade Itself

Uncorrected Manuscript Proof. Royal 8vo. Pp. 545, [15, blank]. Illustrated wraps. Precedes the US edition, published by Pyr, an imprint of Prometheus Books, New York, in 2007.

Scarce copy. Stamped "Proof/Damaged" to half-title and fore-edge, else Fine.

Nominated for Best First Novel in the 2007 Locus Awards. First book in Abercrombie's First Law series, followed by Before They Are Hanged (2007), and Last Argument of Kings (2008). A gritty, violent fantasy, redolent with dark humour, it follows the misadventures of thinking man's barbarian warrior Logen Ninefingers. "It was my take on Lord of the Rings... a reaction against the shiny and optimistic heroic fantasy I read as a teenager," according to the author.

Abercrombie began writing The Blade Itself in 2002, completing it by 2004. However, it took a string of "heart-breaking" rejections by British publishers before Gillian Redfearn of Gollancz accepted the book for a five-figure deal in 2005. "The finest epic fantasy trilogy in recent memory." –Junot Díaz