SWORDS AGAINST DEATH. The Chronicle of Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser, Volume Two.

First edition with these illustrations. Limited edition. Deluxe issue. Signed by the author of the introduction and the illustrator. Original black cloth with titles in red and gilt to the spine and an illustration plate inlay to the upper board, in the Dominick Saponaro illustrated dustwrapper. Top edge grey. Housed in a black cloth slipcase that is lettered to the spine in red and gilt. Illustrated throughout in colour by Saponaro. A fine copy, the binding square and tight, the contents clean and bright and without previous owners' stamps or inscriptions. Complete with the fine original dustwrapper that is without fading, loss or tears. The slipcase is in fine condition.

Issued in a deluxe limited edition of just 50 copies, from which this example is numbered 48 and signed by Steve Rasnic Tem and Dominick Saponaro on the limitation page. Volume two of 'The Chronicles of Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser', the multi-award winning author Fritz Leiber's classic sword and sorcery fantasy series about the adventures of two unlikely heroes and friends, the gargantuan barbarian Fafhrd and the diminutive thief Gray Mouser. The series is made up of novellas and vignettes that were first published in magazines (most frequently in 'Fantastic' magazine) before being collected into the 'Swords' series in book form. Leiber is considered a master of the sword and sorcery genre and popularized the term himself in 1961. A 'Bonus Content' section at the rear contains three essays by Leiber.