| 1965 |
| * | THE HOBBIT
J.R.R. Tolkien
August; 287 pp.; cover art by Barbara Remington |
| * | THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING
J.R.R. Tolkien
October; 527 pp.; cover art by Barbara Remington |
| * | THE TWO TOWERS
J.R.R. Tolkien
October; 447 pp.; cover art by Barbara Remington |
| * | THE RETURN OF THE KING
J.R.R. Tolkien
October; 544 pp.; cover art by Barbara Remington
|
| 1966 |
| * | THE TOLKIEN READER
J.R.R. Tolkien
September; cover art by Pauline Baynes
|
| 1967 |
| * | THE WORM OUROBOROS
E.R. Eddison
April; 520 pp.; cover art by Barbara Remington |
| * | MISTRESS OF MISTRESSES
E.R. Eddison
August; 403 pp.; cover art by Barbara Remington
|
| 1968 |
| * | A FISH DINNER IN MEMISON
E.R. Eddison
January; 319 pp.; cover art by Barbara Remington |
| * | THE ROAD GOES EVER ON
J.R.R. Tolkien
February |
| * | TITUS GROAN
Mervyn Peake
February; 543 pp.; cover art by Bob Pepper |
| * | GORMENGHAST
Mervyn Peake
February; 568 pp.; cover art by Bob Pepper |
| * | TITUS ALONE
Mervyn Peake
February; 284 pp.; cover art by Bob Pepper |
| * | A VOYAGE TO ARCTURUS
David Lindsay
November; 287 pp.; cover art by Bob Pepper
|
| 1969 |
| * | THE LAST UNICORN
Peter S. Beagle
February; 248 pp.; cover art by Gervasio Gallardo |
| * | A FINE AND PRIVATE PLACE
Peter S. Beagle
February; 256 pp.; cover art by Gervasio Gallardo |
| * | SMITH OF WOOTTON MAJOR & FARMER GILES OF HAM
J.R.R. Tolkien
March; 156 pp.; cover art by Pauline Baynes |
| * | THE MEZENTIAN GATE
E.R. Eddison
April; 275 pp.; cover art by Barbara Remington |
| A.F.S. Begins |
| 1. | THE BLUE STAR
Fletcher Pratt
May; 240 pp.; cover art by Ray Cruz |
| 2. | THE KING OF ELFLAND'S DAUGHTER
Lord Dunsany
June; 242 pp.; cover art by Bob Pepper |
| 3. | THE WOOD BEYOND THE WORLD
William Morris
July; 237 pp.; cover art by Gervasio Gallardo |
| 4. | THE SILVER STALLION
James Branch Cabell
August; 284 pp.; cover art by Bob Pepper |
| 5. | LILITH
George Macdonald
September; 274 pp.; cover art by Gervasio Gallardo |
| 6. | DRAGONS, ELVES, AND HEROES
Lin Carter, ed.
October; 276 pp.; cover art by Sheryl Slavitt |
| 7. | THE YOUNG MAGICIANS
Lin Carter, ed.
October |
| 8. | FIGURES OF
EARTH
James Branch Cabell
November; 290 pp.; cover art by Bob Pepper |
| 9. | THE SORCERER'S SHIP
Hannes Bok
December; 205 pp.; cover art by Ray Cruz
|
| 1970 |
| 10. | LAND OF UNREASON
Fletcher Pratt & L. Sprague de Camp
January; 240 pp.; cover art by Donna Violetti |
| 11. | THE HIGH PLACE
James Branch Cabell
February; 234 pp.; cover art by Donna Violetti |
| 12. | LUD-IN-THE-MIST
Hope Mirrlees
March; 273 pp.; cover art by Gervasio Gallardo |
| 13. | AT THE EDGE OF THE WORLD
Lord Dunsany
March; 238 pp.; cover art by Ray Cruz |
| 14. | PHANTASTES
George Macdonald
April; 212 pp.; cover art by Gervasio Gallardo |
| 15. | THE DREAM-QUEST OF UNKNOWN KADATH
H.P. Lovecraft
May; 241 pp.; cover art by Gervasio Gallardo |
| 16. | ZOTHIQUE
Clark Ashton Smith
June; 319 pp.; cover art by George Barr |
| 17. | THE SHAVING OF SHAGPAT
George Meredith
July |
| 18. | THE ISLAND OF THE MIGHTY
Evangeline Walton
July; 368 pp.; cover art by Bob Pepper |
| 19. | DERYNI RISING
Katherine Kurtz
August; 271 pp.; cover art by Bob Pepper |
| 20. | THE WELL AT THE WORLD'S END, Vol. 1
William Morris
August; 320 pp.; cover art by Gervasio Gallardo |
| 21. | THE WELL AT THE WORLD'S END, Vol. 2
William Morris
September; 242 pp.; cover art by Gervasio Gallardo |
| 22. | GOLDEN CITIES, FAR
Lin Carter, ed.
October; 299 pp.; cover art by Ralph Iwamoto and Kathleen Zimmerman |
| 23. | BEYOND THE GOLDEN STAIR
Hannes Bok
November; 209 pp.; cover art by Gervasio Gallardo
|
| 1971 |
| 24. | THE BROKEN SWORD
Poul Anderson
January; 207 pp.; cover art by George Barr |
| 25. | THE BOATS OF THE GLEN CARRIG
William Hope Hodgson
February; 176 pp.; cover art by Robert LoGrippo |
| 26. | THE DOOM THAT CAME TO SARNATH
H.P. Lovecraft
February; 208 pp.; cover art by Gervasio Gallardo |
| 27. | SOMETHING ABOUT EVE
James Branch Cabell
March; 288 pp.; cover art by Bob Pepper |
| 28. | RED MOON AND BLACK MOUNTAIN
Joy Chant
March; 268 pp.; cover art by Bob Pepper |
| 29. | HYPERBOREA
Clark Ashton Smith
April; 319 pp.; cover art by Barbara Remington |
| 30. | DON RODRIGUEZ: CHRONICLES OF SHADOW VALLEY
Lord Dunsany
May; 274 pp.; cover art by Bob Pepper |
| 31. | VATHEK
William Beckford
June |
| 32. | THE MAN WHO WAS THURSDAY
G.K. Chesterton
July; 205 pp.; cover art by Gervasio Gallardo |
| 33. | THE CHILDREN OF LLYR
Evangeline Walton
August; 221 pp.; cover art by David Johnston |
| 34. | THE CREAM OF THE JEST
James Branch Cabell
September; 275 pp.; cover art by Brian Froud |
| 35. | NEW WORLDS FOR OLD
Lin Carter, ed.
September; 326 pp.; cover art by David Johnston |
| 36. | THE SPAWN OF CTHULHU
Lin Carter, ed.
October; 274 pp.; cover art by Gervasio Gallardo |
| 37. | DOUBLE PHOENIX
Edmund Cooper & Roger Lancelyn Green
November; 210 pp.; cover art by Gervasio Gallardo |
| 38. | THE WATER OF THE WONDEROUS ISLES
William Morris
November; 366 pp.; cover art by Gervasio Gallardo |
| 39. | KHALED
F. Marion Crawford
December; 207 pp.; cover art by Gervasio Gallardo |
| * | FUNGI FROM YUGGOTH & OTHER POEMS
H.P. Lovecraft
February; 208 pp.; cover art by Gervasio Gallardo |
| * | THE SURVIVOR & OTHERS
H.P. Lovecraft
February; 208 pp.; cover art by Gervasio Gallardo
|
| 1972 |
| 40. | THE WORLD'S DESIRE
H. Rider Haggard & Andrew Lang
January; 239 pp.; cover art by Vincent di Fate |
| 41. | XICCARPH
Clark Ashton Smith
February; 319 pp.; cover art by Barbara Remington |
| 42. | THE LOST CONTINENT
C.J. Cutliffe Hyne
February; 274 pp.; cover art by Dean Ellis |
| 43. | DISCOVERIES IN FANTASY
Lin Carter, ed.
March; 243 pp.; cover art by Peter Le Vasseur |
| 44. | DOMNEI
James Branch Cabell
March; 219 pp.; cover art by Brian Froud |
| 45. | KAI LUNG'S GOLDEN HOURS
Ernest Bramah
April; 242 pp.; cover art by Ian Miller |
| 46. | DERYNI CHECKMATE
Katherine Kurtz
May; 302 pp.; cover art by Bob Pepper |
| 47. | BEYOND THE FIELDS WE KNOW
Lord Dunsany
May; 299 pp.; cover art by Gervasio Gallardo |
| 48. | THE THREE IMPOSTERS
Arthur Machen
June; 194 pp.; cover art by Robert LoGrippo |
| 49. | THE NIGHT LAND, Vol. 1
William Hope Hodgson
July; 244 pp.; cover art by Robert LoGrippo |
| 50. | THE NIGHT LAND, Vol. 2
William Hope Hodgson
July; 243 pp.; cover art by Robert LoGrippo |
| 51. | THE SONG OF RHIANNON
Evangeline Walton
August; 208 pp.; cover art by David Johnston |
| 52. | GREAT SHORT NOVELS OF ADULT FANTASY #1
Lin Carter, ed.
September; 278 pp.; cover art by Gervasio Gallardo |
| 53. | EVENOR
George Macdonald
November; 210 pp.; cover art by Gervasio Gallardo
|
| 1973 |
| 54. | ORLANDO FURIOSO
Ludovico Ariosto
January; 208 pp.; cover art by David Johnston |
| 55. | THE CHARWOMAN'S SHADOW
Lord Dunsany
February; 213 pp.; cover art by Gervasio Gallardo |
| 56. | GREAT SHORT NOVELS OF ADULT FANTASY #2
Lin Carter, ed.
March; 248 pp.; cover art by Gervasio Gallardo |
| 57. | THE SUNDERING FLOOD
William Morris
May; 238 pp.; cover art by Gervasio Gallardo |
| 58. | IMAGINARY WORLDS
Lin Carter
June |
| 59. | POSEIDONIS
Clark Ashton Smith
July; 319 pp.; cover art by Gervasio Gallardo |
| 60. | EXCALIBUR
Sanders Anne Laubenthal
August; 236 pp.; cover art by Gervasio Gallardo |
| 61. | HIGH DERYNI
Katherine Kurtz
September; 269 pp.; cover art by Alan Mardon |
| 62. | HROLF KRAKI'S SAGA
Poul Anderson
October; 261 pp.; cover art by Bob Pepper |
| 63. | THE PEOPLE OF THE MIST
H. Rider Haggard
December; 365 pp.; cover art by Dean Ellis
|
| 1974 |
| 64. | KAI LUNG UNROLLS HIS MAT
Ernest Bramah
February |
| 65. | OVER THE HILLS AND FAR AWAY
Lord Dunsany
April; 234 pp.; cover art by Gervasio Gallardo |
| * | MERLIN'S RING
H. Warner Munn
June; 366 pp.; cover art by Gervasio Gallardo |
| * | PRINCE OF ANNWN
Evangeline Walton
November; 179 pp.; cover art by David Johnston |
As I have written more than once here on this site, my most intense period of literary discovery coincided with a resurgence of speculative fiction literature in the marketplace in the mid to late 1960s and early 1970s. In large part, this was due to the efforts of Ballantine Books, who, from 1965 to 1969, reprinted classic fantasy titles by Mervyn Peake, David Lindsay, J.R.R. Tolkien, and E.R. Eddison in mass market trade paperback editions. In 1969, with fantasy writer Lin Carter brought on board as editor, they began publishing additional classic fantasy as part of their new Adult Fantasy Series (AFS). Over the next five years, at a rate of about one a month, Ballantine published 65 titles under the sign of the unicorn's head, the icon they had chosen to represent the series. Each title featured an introduction and notes - and occasionally maps - by editor Lin Carter, along with full color wraparound artwork by some of the finest artists working at the time, including Bob Pepper, Gervasio Gallardo, and Robert LoGrippo among others.
In the list that follows, I have noted all of the earlier titles I mentioned above that appeared prior to the first book published under the Adult Fantasy colophon. I have included these because they are considered by many, myself included, to be unofficial titles in the series. Below these I have listed all 65 of the titles from the series proper, arranged by year of publication; month of publication and cover artist are included for each one. I have also added two final titles from 1974 that were published without the colophon but were clearly intended as part of the main series.
Finally, for the sake of historical interest (and completeness?) I have added two titles by H.P. Lovecraft that were published in 1971 to the end of that section in the listing. Although neither of them carry the AFS colophon or have introductions by Lin Carter, they are identical in format and style of cover art to two other Lovecraft titles from the AFS that were published in the same year.
At right is a gallery of cover art for each of the books in the list below; all of the images were scanned from my collection. In the future I will add the full wraparound artwork for each title. Note: five of the AFS covers are missing from the gallery - although I eagerly awaited and then purchased each new title as it was published, somehow I missed these five when they were released!
