Vintage paperback book cover of John Brunner's 'Interstellar Empire' from DAW Books, featuring retro sci-fi artwork of a massive spaceship over a futuristic landscape.
vintage paperback book, showing copyright and acknowledgment text on aged tan paper with a small 'DAW' logo at the bottom.
half title page of the book 'Interstellar Empire' by John Brunner, published by Daw Books, Inc., featuring a tan paper background with black printed text.
The back cover of a book titled 'John Brunner' from Daw Books, featuring a tan background with black text and a small red publisher logo at the bottom.
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Vintage paperback book cover of John Brunner's 'Interstellar Empire' from DAW Books, featuring retro sci-fi artwork of a massive spaceship over a futuristic landscape.vintage paperback book, showing copyright and acknowledgment text on aged tan paper with a small 'DAW' logo at the bottom.half title page of the book 'Interstellar Empire' by John Brunner, published by Daw Books, Inc., featuring a tan paper background with black printed text.The back cover of a book titled 'John Brunner' from Daw Books, featuring a tan background with black text and a small red publisher logo at the bottom.

Interstellar Empire

Debs Book Paradise
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Price:
$32.00

Description

Author: John Brunner
Publisher: DAW Books, Inc. (Donald A. Wollheim, Publisher / No. 208 / UW1252)
Year: 1976
Edition: True First Edition / First Printing (September 1976 / Full Number Line 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9)
Format: Mass Market Paperback (A DAW Books Original)
Cover Artist: Paul Lehr
Condition: Very Good Plus

A sweeping, foundational space opera trilogy collected in a definitive, uncreased first printing.
Hugo Award-winning master John Brunner steps away from his dystopian cyberpunk visions to deliver a classic, sprawling space opera epic in the grand tradition of the genre. Interstellar Empire fixes its lens on the fragile aftermath of a shattered galactic civilization. Centuries after a mighty empire patrolling hundreds of inhabited worlds collapses into a galactic Dark Age of ignorance and barbarism, its colony worlds are left isolated. Humanity's lone thread of survival rests upon the imperial starships left behind—foolproof, impervious, and self-repairing vessels that still blindly obey the simplified commands of anyone who reaches their control panels. This episodic masterpiece elegantly stitches together three of Brunner's highly celebrated space-faring novellas: "The Altar on Asconel," "The Man from the Big Dark," and "The Wanton of Argus."
This premium offering is a True First Edition, First Printing from September 1976, structured as a coveted DAW Books Original. Elevating its aesthetic value for vintage sci-fi collectors, the front cover showcases a brilliant sci-fi landscape painted by the iconic mid-century surrealist illustrator Paul Lehr, depicting a colossal, crystalline city spire pointing toward lightning-streaked cosmic skies. It is an absolute standout shelf piece for collectors tracking the golden era of 1970s yellow-spine paperbacks.
Condition Notes
  • Overall Profile: Very Good Plus (VG+). An exceptionally well-kept, clean survivor that exhibits outstanding care over the last half-century.

  • Cover: The wrap-around graphics by Paul Lehr remain beautifully colored, displaying intense, dark ink fields and crisp typography. Displays only minor, micro-shelf rubbing along the corner tips and joints, completely avoiding laminate peeling or heavy scuffs.
  • Spine: Impeccably straight, block-flat, and completely uncreased. The binding avoids any vertical reading stress lines or text-block lean, keeping its original rigid showroom structure.
  • Interior: Completely clean and securely signature-bound. The text block is pristine—entirely free from previous owner ink names, library stamps, dealer pencil notations, or dog-ears. Pages display a highly uniform, natural light amber age-toning native to DAW's 1976 newsprint stock.