The Dragon Masters & The Last Castle by Jack Vance - Numbered Edition

PRE-ORDER PRICE: $650
PUBLICATION PRICE: $695

We are pleased to announce our limited edition of The Dragon Masters and The Last Castle by Jack Vance. This edition brings together two of Vance’s most celebrated novellas, both recipients of the Hugo Award and regarded as seminal works in the science fiction genre. With an introduction by John Vance and an afterword by Michael Moorcock, this edition celebrates Vance’s singular imagination and enduring literary legacy.

In The Dragon Masters, when humans on a distant world, living under primitive conditions, breed lizard-like alien creatures into fierce warriors, the unexpected arrival of a vessel from the aliens’ home planet brings not only their kindred, but something far more unsettling.  In The Last Castle, a privileged aristocracy lives in towering, high-tech fortresses sustained by alien servitors, until an unexpected rebellion threatens to bring their world crashing down.

The Dragon Masters first appeared in the August 1962 issue of Galaxy Science Fiction magazine and was published in book form by Ace Books in 1963 as half of Ace Double F-185. The novella earned Jack Vance his first Hugo Award. The Last Castle made its debut in Galaxy Science Fiction magazine in 1966 and was published as half of Ace Double H-21 in 1967. It won the 1966 Nebula Award for Best Novella and the 1967 Hugo Award for Best Novelette. These honors contributed to Jack Vance’s recognition by the Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers Association, who named the author a Grand Master in 1997, the highest honor bestowed by the SFWA.

Both The Dragon Masters and The Last Castle showcase Jack Vance’s enduring mastery of imaginative world-building and inventive storytelling that define the very best of science fiction.

The limited edition of The Dragon Masters & The Last Castle by Jack Vance is presented in three states: Lettered, Numbered and Artist editions.

NUMBERED EDITION

• 6” x 9” trim size.
• 262 Pages.
• Limited to 250 copies.
  
• Signed by John Vance, Michael Moorcock, Julie Bell and Ted Nasmith. 
• New exclusive introduction by John Vance. 
• New exclusive afterword by Michael Moorcock.
• Tête-bêche binding structure presents each story as a self-contained book with its own front cover, paying homage to the classic Ace Doubles format in which these novellas were published in 1963 and 1967 respectively.
• Hand bound full goatskin binding. 
• Covers feature blind stamped custom line-art illustrations commissioned specifically for this edition from the artists who illustrated the volume.  
• Foil stamped leather label on the cover. 
• Ten color illustrations by award-winning illustrators Julie Bell and Ted Nasmith. 
  
• Newly commissioned map by Misty Beee, expanding on the map that originally appeared accompanying The Dragon Masters in the August 1962 issue of Galaxy magazine. 
• Printed letterpress on Neenah Cotton paper by Scott Vile on a Heidelberg cylinder at Ascensius Press in Buxton, Maine. 
• Designed by award-winning designer Misha Beletsky.
• Text is set in Amerigo and Swift.
  
• Housed in a cloth-covered clamshell enclosure with velour lined trays. 
  
• Bookmark with all pre-orders.

Published editions may differ slightly from mockups and prototype designs. 
The Dragon Masters Illustrations © 2025 by Julie Bell.
The Last Castle Illustrations © 2025 by Ted Nasmith.