Sunday, January 22, 2012

Philip Pullman's Sally Lockhart Series

Although Philip Pullman is nowadays best known for the three novels that make up the His Dark Materials trilogy, which were bestsellers in the latter half of the 1990s and into the new millennium, he had earlier written a series of four novels set in Victorian England featuring Sally Lockhart. Although thought of as being aimed at children, they have surprisingly (or, perhaps, not so surprisingly, given that this is Philip Pullman) adult themes, including, but not limited to, drug taking, prostitution and illegitimate children. Probably better for a young teen audience than a pre-teen audience.

Published by Scholastic, the covers have gone through several evolutions over the years. Although I'll probably be hauled over hot coals for saying this, my favourites are the recent photographic covers.

The Ruby in the Smoke (London, Oxford University Press, 1985; revised, Puffin Books, 1987)
Puffin Books, 1987
Scholastic 0439-01077-2, 1999.
----, [12th imp.] n.d., 207pp, £5.99
Scholastic 0439-97778-9, 2004,
----, [4th imp.] n.d., 209pp, £5.99. Cover by David Hopkins
Scholastic 978-0439-94366-6, 2006, 209+[21]pp, £6.99. Cover photo by Mike Hogan. TV Tie-in.
Scholastic 978-1407-11169-8, 2009, 240pp.
Scholastic 978-1407-13054-5, Feb 2012, 240pp, £6.99. Cover photo

The Shadow in the North (as The Shadow in the Plate, London, Oxford University Press, 1986; revised as The Shadow in the North, Puffin Books, 1988)
Puffin Books, Aug 1989
Scholastic 0439-01078-0, Mar 1999, 286pp, £5.99.
Scholastic 978-0439-95526-3, Apr 2004, 304pp. Cover by David Hopkins
Scholastic 978-1407-10627-4, Dec 2007, 304pp, £6.99. Cover photo. TV Tie-in.
Scholastic 978-1407-11170-4, May 2009, 304pp, £6.99.
Scholastic 978-1407-13055-2, Feb 2012, 288pp, £6.99. Cover photo

The Tiger in the Well (London, Penguin Books, 1991)
Scholastic 0439-01079-9, Mar 1999, 392pp, £5.99.
Scholastic 978-0439-97780-7, Feb 2004, 448pp. Cover by David Hopkins
Scholastic 978-0439-95525-6, Apr 2007, 431+[23]pp, £6.99. Cover by Domic Harman
Scholastic 978-0439-11171-1, May 2009, 464pp.
Scholastic 978-0439-13056-9, Feb 2012, 448pp, £7.99. Cover photo

The Tin Princess (London, Penguin Books, 1994)
Scholastic 978-0439-99711-9, Sep 2000 , 304pp.
Scholastic 0439-97779-7, Feb 2004, 276pp, £5.99. Cover by David Hopkins
Scholastic 098-0439-95527-0, Apr 2007, 304pp, £6.99.
Scholastic 098-0439-11172-8, May 2009, 304pp, £6.99.
Scholastic 098-0439-13057-6, Feb 2012, 304pp, £6.99. Cover photo

1 comment:

  1. I know this comment is probably a little late but I just wandered over this page by accident. I can see that you have done a bit of research on the different published versions of this book and I am happy to see that you mentioned my personal favourite (the old Puffin versions) but do not have any pictures of them available. The version I'm referring to had greyscale portrait photographs of a woman on them and were fairly plain. They are harder to find on the internet than most other versions but I have always liked them more than the others.

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