Quicksilver : Volume One of The Baroque Cycle
By Neal Stephenson
Published by Heinemann, London, 2003. First UK Edition. Signed by the author to the title page. Hardback book in an unclipped dust jacket. 917 pages.
CONDITION
A very good first UK edition and signed by the author. The dust jacket has its original price intact and is in good condition. All contents present and pages good throughout. No names or writing other than that of the author's signature. Overall a very good signed first UK edition.
Quicksilver is the story of Daniel Waterhouse, fearless thinker and conflicted Puritan, pursuing knowledge in the company of the greatest minds of Baroque-era Europe, in a chaotic world where reason wars with the bloody ambitions of the mighty, and where catastrophe, natural or otherwise, can alter the political landscape overnight.
It is a chronicle of the breathtaking exploits of "Half-Cocked Jack" Shaftoe--London street urchin turned swashbuckling adventurer and legendary King of the Vagabonds--risking life and limb for fortune and love while slowly maddening from the pox.
And it is the tale of Eliza, rescued by Jack from a Turkish harem to become spy, confidante, and pawn of royals in order to reinvent Europe through the newborn power of finance.
A gloriously rich, entertaining, and endlessly inventive novel that brings a remarkable age and its momentous events to vivid life, Quicksilver is an extraordinary achievement from one of the most original and important literary talents of our time.