THE ALCHEMIST

First edition, first printing. Signed by the author. Original black faux leather with blue foil titles to the spine, in the J. K. Drummond illustrated dustwrapper. Illustrated with three black and white illustrations by Drummond. A fine copy, the binding square and tight, the contents clean and bright throughout. Complete with the fine original dustwrapper. Not price-clipped ($45 on the front flap).

Issued in a limited edition of 500 copies. This example is numbered 106 and is signed by Paolo Bacigalupi in blue ink on the limitation page. The Hugo, Nebula and Locus Award winning author's fantasy novella set in a world in which a bramble grows every time somebody uses magic, leading to whole cities being destroyed by bramble forests. The setting was collaboratively created by Bacigalupi and the writer Tobias S. Buckell, who wrote a companion novella 'The Alchemist' called 'The Executioness'. Both novellas were both originally released in audiobook format on Audible, 'The Alchemist' being published in print here for the first time. Two further novellas set in this same world were later written by Bacigalupi and Buckell, and an omnibus edition including all four titled 'The Tangled Lands' was published by Simon and Schuster in 2018.