A Game of Thrones
By George R. R. Martin
 
First UK edition, first impression: London: Voyager, an imprint of HarperCollins, 1996.
 
Original red cloth, spine lettered and decorated in gilt with the Voyager flame device at the foot. With the original pictorial dust jacket, illustration by Jim Burns, unclipped and priced £16.99.
 
A near fine copy, the binding square and firm; some of the usual toning to the text-block edges; a previous owner's blindstamp, to the lower corner of the half-title; an inconspicuous knock to the upper spine hinge, else remarkably sharp and clean throughout.
 
The dust jacket near fine or better, with only the slightest signs of wear to the spine head. Burns's design - confronted dragons framing a mounted knight before the towers of a walled city - retains its full strength of colour, the reds and golds unfaded and the lettering to the spine panel bright, the folds sharp and the panel edges unrubbed.
 
The first volume of "A Song of Ice and Fire", and the book on which Martin's reputation now rests. It won the 1997 Locus Award for Best Fantasy Novel and was shortlisted for the Nebula and World Fantasy Awards; the Daenerys chapters, published separately as the novella "Blood of the Dragon", took the 1997 Hugo Award for Best Novella. The Voyager printing was much the smaller of the two first hardback issues, and the novel did not reach the New York Times bestseller list until January 2011 - around fifteen years after publication, and the year HBO's adaptation began. The series ran until 2019 and took fifty-nine Emmy Awards.