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Book Edition

Author: Terry Pratchett Title: The Colour Of Magic Publisher:   Corgi Country: UK Date: Mar 1985 Format: Paperback Genre: Fiction, Fantasy, Humour ISBN-10: 0552124753 Barcode: 9780552124751 Total Editions: 13 First Published:   1983 Rating: 9.5  Rate Collection:   I Own It     I Want It  Community:  5 Own Price Guide: Valuation Page » Search eBay #AD  » Search Amazon #AD This site contains affiliate links for which we may be compensated.

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Notes

published by transworld publishers ltd, century house 61/63 uxbridge road, london w5 5sa in paperback 3/1985, reprinted 1985, many further reprints;
n.b: later re-set, in larger point type, and pagination then alters.

corgi book 124753 239pp incl. titles (1p uncounted?), +2 end pp adverts (1p for the belgariad, 1p for othertitles fantasy titleslist currently available on transworld publishers' list, plus mail-order form/info in fact giving barnicoats' of cornwall's address)

wrap-around cover art by josh kirby in which terry's description of the character, twoflower, is famously misinterpreted to mean he possesses two eyes to either side of his nose. . .
cover price: £1.75 (yuk), recommended prices new zealand: $6.95, xxxx: $4.95

contents (all original publications in the 1983 h/cvr 1st edn.):
the colour of magic
the sending of eight
the lure of the wyrm
close to the edge

first edition published by colin smythe ltd, gerrard's cross, bucks. (yuk) hardcover 11/1983 in dj cover art by alan smith

Images



Primary Edition

Book

Terry Pratchett - The Colour Of Magic - Colin Smythe - Hardcover - UK - 0861400895 (1983)

Comments and Reviews

David Whiteley 23rd Apr 2021		Added wraparound cover for 1989 (7th paperback) printing, with a price change to £2.99 and catalogue No. on front cover.
fantasticbaggie SUBS 11th Aug 2019		Added images for the 1988 reprint. According to the image on google books there is one minor difference to the front cover - a white window in the top left corner with the code 124753 in it. On the back cover the pricing scale has also increased and there may be a few other minor changes.
carryonsidney 15th Dec 2016		Im not sure how this book site works but the release date for this paperback is 7 months wrong as first edition UK hard back had a possible release date of 21st october 1983 and was published by Colin Smythe, in the USA by St Martin's Press (same date).
ppint. 8th Mar 2016		my info for the edition and printing is as i stated it. - i added the further information that after a number of reprintings, transworld publishers ltd. reset the text at larger point size, as i thought (most) bookcat contributors and browsers might appreciate this advice. the front promotional blurb comparison also changes - somewhat earlier on in the ukpb's story - and there is also an unreprinted edition with totally different, significantly more restrained artwork by stephen player, testing whether sales of the books in the series were being held back by josh kirby's wildy enthusiastic - and highly appropriate, but undeniably garish - artwork. . . - as to whether information helpful in identification of differences between editions is important, i'm content to leave that in the lap(s) of our semi-divine beings.°°. an appreciable proportion of online pratchettfandom found it useful, or at least of some interest, back when terry was alive, and dedicating discworld books. . . ° - and therefore, the pagination would of course increase °° - perchlorax the sickly yellow is, of course, entitled to their own opinions°°° °°° - no matter how far-fetched from under the moving turtle's carapace
RadoxTheGreen 3rd Mar 2016		Your info for the Corgi book is incorrect. The adverts on the end pages change according to printing edition. Mine has an ad for The Light Fantastic and Equal Rites, with a selection of Bantam Books titles on the final page. I'm not sure it's really neccessary to include that sort of info anyway.
ppint. 1st Mar 2016		Rated 9/10 terry's first discworld novel - his fourth novel - is composed of four consecutive-but-more-or-less self-contained sections introducing rincewind, the discworld's most incompetent ''wizzard'' ever; twoflower, the discworld's first ever tourist; the unseen university, and its more-or-less permanent population of wizards, masters of arcane lore and who, save for the truly ambitious amongst them, who are also attempting to become masters in the art of assassinating their superiors in the uu hierarchy, are primarily interested in continuing to live their comfortably overfed lives with a minimum of effort on their own parts; the thieves' & other city guilds, whose rivalries and excesses are - mostly - balanced by an early incarnation of the patrician of the twin city of ankh-morpork whose skills in this have been sharpened by necessity, occasioned not least by the incompetence of the city guardsmen, as evidenced by the men of the night watch; and to the discworld itself, borne by the four great elephants standing atop giant atuin, the star-turtle, orbited by the sun as it (- whether he or she is a matter of deeply serious religious debate - for some -) swims slowly through space towards - what? - terry takes a delight in gently pointing out the occasional sillinesses in the very best of fantasy he's enjoyed, nodding his appreciation by this of the pleasure their authors provided him over the decades, whilst telling a story that is all his own, that starts off with - not one, but several bangs, as the city of ankh-morpork explodes behind an incompetent wizzard escaping the catastrophe his unwanted companion, twoflower has inadvertently and accidentally triggered - both pursued by "the luggage" - twoflower's at least mildly intelligent, and apparently "mildly murderously" protective brass-bound travelling, sometimes aggressively-, even hungrily- hinged toothed timber chest, highly mobile on its innumerable tiny legs... - contrary to his devout personal belief that the safest direction to choose is always "away" - from any and every danger or disturbance, and at as high a speed as possible, rincewind is saddled with the task of ensuring twoflower's safety and survival by the ruler of ankh-morpork - and the apparently suicidally-insane prototypical "tourist" persists, even insists, in heading for the most "picturesque" and "interesting" - for both of which rincewind rightly reads "most dangerous" - sights, company and events in any and every circumstance possible... (re-edited 2021, to add more without committing any spoilers; maybe more to follow, still...) 6 people found this review helpful.   ✔︎ Helpful Review?

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See Also

Book

Terry Pratchett - The Colour Of Magic - Signet - Paperback - USA - 0451135776 (1985)

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Sheri S. Tepper - The True Game - Corgi - Paperback - UK - 0552126209 (1985)

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