DUNE by Herbert, Frank - 197?]

[Philadelphia: The Chilton Book Company, n.d., 197?]. Later printing. Upper corners a bit bumped, a nearly fine copy in a nearly fine dust jacket with two tiny closed tears at upper right front corner, mild wear to the head of the spine panel and some rubs at the front flap fold. (26499). Octavo, boards. This edition, likely the fifth as the number sequence starts with "5". First novel in the Dune series, an immensely popular work which led to many sequels. "Politics and metaphysics are tightly bound into a remarkably detailed and coherent pattern; an imaginative tour de force ... The series demonstrates how a good SF writer's ability to build a coherent and convincing hypothetical world can serve the purpose of making philosophical and sociological questions concrete; the series thus becomes a massive thought experiment in social philosophy ..." - Anatomy of Wonder (2004) II-524. "What, in its entirety, does the Dune saga represent? Nearly 2300 pages -- more than a million words. A saga covering some six thousand or so years. A cast of hundreds. Dune is, undoubtedly, an epic. In its own way it achieves what earlier models failed at. It is not merely the present retold as the future. It is much more than a power fantasy. Unlike E. E. 'Doc' Smith's Lensman universe, or Asimov's Foundation universe, it has depth as well as breadth. Unlike those earlier models it grasped the concept that the future would have different modes of behavior, different motivations to our own. For all its seemingly mediaeval setting, DUNE is a thoroughly futuristic novel. It transcends its ANALOG origins. The Dune sequence is not, in its totality, easy reading. Like the best of anything, it requires and rewards attention. It is not wholly successful, and the later volumes are, perhaps, over-cerebral, yet in its ambitious design the sequence does not fall short of its target. Its existence has influenced younger writers to attempt more complex schemes than they might otherwise have ventured upon. Bruce Sterling and Greg Bear are writers who can been seen to have benefitted from Herbert's trailblazing efforts. Many others would admit that Herbert's influence has added rigor to their work." - Aldiss and Wingrove, Trillion Year Spree, pp. 399-400. Winner of the 1965 Nebula and 1966 Hugo awards for best novel. Filmed several times, as a feature film in 1984 and a TV mini-series in 2000. In post-production for a new theatrical release. Anatomy of Wonder (2004) II-524. Pringle, Science Fiction: The 100 Best Books 48. Survey of Science Fiction Literature II, pp. 647-58.