THE KNIGHT AND KNAVE OF SWORDS. The Chronicles of Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser, Volume Seven.

First edition with these illustrations. Limited edition. Signed by the author of the introduction and the illustrator. Publisher's original black cloth with gilt and red titles to the spine, with pictorial onlay to the upper board, in the Tim Kirk wraparound-illustrated dustwrapper. Housed in the black and dark brown cloth slipcase. Top edge dark brown. Burgundy satin bookmark. Illustrated endpapers. With a colour frontispiece, two black and white maps and seven black and white plates by Tim Kirk, and with two black and white photographs of the author to the rear. An excellent fine copy, the binding square and firm, the cloth bright and fresh. The contents are clean throughout, and without previous owners' inscriptions or stamps. Complete in the dustwrapper that remains without fading, loss or tears. Housed in the lightly rubbed, structurally sound slipcase which just has a couple of very light marks to the sides.

Issued in a deluxe limited edition of just 50 copies, from which this example is numbered 48 and is signed by the illustrator Tim Kirk and the author of the introduction Marc Laidlaw in black ink on the tissue-guarded colophon. A facsimile of Fritz Leiber's signature is printed in black. Volume seven 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. The first edition (1988: William Morrow) received nominations for the 1989 World Fantasy and Locus Awards for 'Best Collection'. 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 an additional short 'Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser' story, two essays by Leiber, and three letters by Leiber and Harry O. Fischer.