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Vintage 1975 The Worm Ouroboros E.R. Eddison Pan/Ballantine Epic Fantasy PB
Vintage 1975 Pan/Ballantine Adult Fantasy paperback edition of The Worm Ouroboros by E. R. Eddison, an epic fantasy novel originally published in English in 1926.
Story and themes: often compared to Tolkien\'s \'The Lord of the Rings\', the novel follows the lords of Demonland and their enemy King Gorice XII in a sweeping war for supremacy on a distant, spectacular world filled with sorcery, courtly intrigue, heroic battles, and archaic, high-flown language.
Format and design: compact UK paperback featuring wraparound color cover art of a dragon forming an ouroboros encircling a battlefield and landscape, with a black central title panel and Pan logo on the spine and lower back. Interior pages present black text in a traditional serif type with chapter headings and standard margins.
Publication details: title page credits E. R. Eddison with illustrations by Keith Henderson and an introduction by Orville Prescott, under the Pan/Ballantine Adult Fantasy unicorn colophon. The copyright page notes first publication of this edition by Ballantine Books Ltd., London, in 1971, with this copy marked as the 4th printing 1975. Copyright 1926, 1962 (new introduction) is held by E. P. Dutton and Co., Inc.
Country of origin: the copyright page states that the volume was made and printed in Great Britain by Richard Clay (The Chaucer Press) Ltd., Bungay, Suffolk, and the back cover carries a \"Printed in England\" line.
Identifiers: the back cover and copyright page list ISBN-10: 0-330-23841-8, along with original recommended prices of 75p in the U.K., $2.25 in Australia, and $2.25 in New Zealand, and a note that it was not for sale in Canada.
Special features: includes Keith Henderson\'s black-and-white illustrative devices, Orville Prescott\'s critical introduction praising the book as a major literary fantasy, and back-matter notes quoting poems and saga passages referenced in the text, situating the novel within older literary traditions.
Notes: please review all photos for views of the front and back cover artwork, spine, page edges, title and copyright pages, sample interior text, and the Adult Fantasy series and pricing information on this vintage Pan/Ballantine epic fantasy paperback.
Condition: Front cover retains strong color in the dragon artwork but shows overall surface rubbing, scattered creases across the central black panel, edge wear, and a folded, frayed chip at the lower fore-corner as shown. Back cover is evenly age-toned with light soiling, small spots, and rubbing with tiny nicks along the outer edges and corners. Spine is slightly concave with reading and stress creases, color loss along the hinges, and wear with small splits at the head and foot, while the text block edges are deeply tanned to brown with a few faint handling marks. Interior pages are heavily age-toned yet remain fully legible and securely bound on the leaves shown, with a few small margin spots near the front and no writing, highlighting, or loose pages visible.
