PHILIP PULLMAN (b.1946)
The Amber Spyglass. London: Scholastic, 2000.
First edition, signed and annotated by the author with 295 words of commentary. The Amber Spyglass is the final book in Pullman’s critically acclaimed His Dark Materials trilogy, which follows the lives of Lyra Belacqua and Will Parry as they venture across multiple parallel universes. Inspired by the plot of Paradise Lost, it addresses weighty issues of morality and religion in the form of a children’s adventure novel, and was the first children’s novel to win the Whitbread Book of the Year award. Pullman’s illuminating commentary on the front endpaper is filled with interesting personal details, written in a familiar tone: ‘I wrote the book with the same pen that wrote the first two, the pen I’m using now for this…’ In his notes, Pullman reflects on his decision to include quotations from his favourite poets, including William Blake and John Milton, in the chapter headings: ‘As I look through them now, I don’t think there are any I’d change.’ He also expresses his criticism of authors ‘who sign their books with an illegible scribble’ alongside his gratitude to his ‘incomparably wise and generous readers.’

Octavo. Original black cloth, gilt lettering to the spine, pictorial dust jacket.

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