rupert hart-davis first printing, first h/cvr edition, first uk edition
cover (d-j) art by ken reilly (credited as designer on front d-j flap)
cover (d-j) price 25/-
192pp. including titles, indicia etc, end pp. sewn in signatures and bound with endpapers between cloth-covered boards
my thanks to tony at the old pier bookshop, morecambe sea-front, for letting me see the copy in his valuable books cabinet.
serialised in f&sf vol.29 #4, #5; 10/1965, 11/1965, under the title, "...and call me conrad";
winner of the 1966 hugo award for best novel. (this comment is from another edition of this book)
panther books imprint first printing, first uk p/b edition
cover art unsigned, uncredited
cover price 5/-, 60c south africa, 80c, australia, 65c new zealand
so should be re-flagged "international" according to respected moderator's rule
- or not so re-flagged, according to equally well-respected moderator's heartfelt plea
192pp. including titles, indicia etc, end pp. advertising (this comment is from another edition of this book)
methuen london p/b first printing, not first uk p/b edition
cover art by melvyn grant (credited on rear cover)
cover price £1.95
184pp? (check) including titles, indicia etc, end pp. advertising (this comment is from another edition of this book)
Contains a piece of useful advice.Apparently blood is very nourishing once you learn to keep it down. (this comment is from another edition of this book)
Rated 10/10humanity's rape and destruction of the earth's ecosystem has presented civilisation in the local part of the galaxy with a major problem - and unscrupulous asset-strippers (and worse) amongst them with a tempting business opportunity or three hundred. a fabulously wealthy alien comes to earth, ostensibly as a tourist, one amongst quite a few such fascinated by the chance to view - and possibly buy up examples of - humanity's art treasures before the planet and its cultures have been completely looted (not least, of course, by wealthy alien tourists not too fussy about the legality of their acquisitions), and engages a tour guide for his party who proves to be rather more than meets the eye - and isn't too keen on tourists buying up the treasures of ten thousand years as mildly interesting knick-knacks to decorate their off-planet offices and towers to impress friends and visitors with briefly, and then forget.
conrad gives his employers their money's worth, including steering them safely through some of the more dangerous parts of their itinery they're not prepared to abandon - though some of the dangers they seem to've brought with them - and provides them with photo-opportunities (or equivalents thereof) as may appeal, entertain or appal, including the systematic, deliberate destruction of one of the great pyramids(!) - but why? he doesn't appear to need the money, and his sympathies seem far more in tune with those of the assassin he argues out of completing their commission - at least, for a while - than with the rich wastrels and industrialists, etc, he's guiding and protecting - again, why? - and why on earth has one of the monsters out of a "hot" area picked up their trail, and what can it be after?
- and how much can a ruined planet be worth, after all - and to whom?
- one's own life? - or more? (this review is from another edition of this book)