Frank Herbert (1965) ‘Dune‘, UK first edition, first printing, published by Victor Gollancz. Condition: a near fine book in a very good dust jacket. There is one neat previous owner’s name to top of the front free endpaper, no bookplates, no stamps. Internally clean. The boards are clean and free of any bumps. The lettering on the spine is vibrant and NOT rubbed out. The page block edges are lightly darkened commensurate with age. The dust jacket is price clipped. The publication history of ‘Dune’ has become legendary. After researching sand dunes in Oregon Herbert conceived the idea for the story. The novel was first serialised in ANALOG magazine from December 1963 onwards as ‘Dune World’ and ‘Prophet of Dune’. After 23 rejections by established publishers, Chilton Company, a car repair manual printing company, published the novel in October 1965 in the US and the novel was issued soon afterwards in the UK by Gollancz. Dune remains the best science fiction novel of all time. It won the 1966 Hugo and Nebula Award. It has been described as the science fiction equivalent to Tolkien’s ‘The Lord of the Rings’ in fantasy in the book’s scope, depth, complexity and quality of writing. It has had a colossal influence on the sci-fi genre in literature and film. For exmaple, without ‘Dune’ ‘Star Wars’ would not have been made. ‘Dune’ has been adaped into film by David Lynch in 1984; and as a TV-mini series in 2000. An earlier attempt to film the source material by Alejandro Jodorowsky in the 1970s failed due to lack of finances. A star cast (Salvador Dali; Orson Welles) and the most creative team of that time (film score by Pink Floyd; conceptual art by H.R Giger; Jean Giraud and Chris Foss) had been working on the project and it became ‘the most influential film that was never made’. A new film adaptation by Canadian director Dennis Villeneuve – who has made some outstanding science fiction fims in the past (‘Arrival’ and ‘Blade Runner 2049’) – was released at the end of 2021 to universal acclaim winning multiple Academy Awards.
