The King Must Die

by Mary Renault

Dust jacket illustration by Eric Carle

New York: Pantheon Books, 1958

First Edition

First Printing (stated)

Hardcover. 338 pages. 5-3/4" x 8-3/8"

Near fine in very good, unclipped ($4.50) dust jacket.

Pages bright, clean & unmarked. Mild toning to end papers & edges of page block. Binding firm & square. Covers clean with light rubbing to corners & along edges; mild soiling to boards. Dust jacket has light rubbing & wear along edges & at corners; a few small chips from top edge of front flap; tanning to rear panel, along flap folds & to edges of flaps. DJ comes protected by new, archival cover.

An attractive & desirable copy of the first American edition of Renault's best-selling novel about the life of Theseus. "Suzanne Collins credited The King Must Die as one inspiration for The Hunger Games, with the concept of boys and girls taken by lottery to perform in a deadly competition for the elites' entertainment." [Wikipedia]