The Compleat Khash Volume I:
Never a Backward Glance
(First edition)
plus
The Compleat Khash Volume II:
Sorcery in Shad
(First American edition and first hardcover edition)
by BRIAN LUMLEY
profusely illustrated by British artist JIM PITTS
The "Khash" books take place in Theem'hdra, the Primal Continent, which existed hundreds of millions of years ago on Earth. Here, Nature was still experimenting, and you will find monsters and demons, warriors and wizards, and others like Cthulhu who even then waited, dreaming...
Tarra Khash, a man of the Steppes, is an adventurer in the ancient world of Theem'hdra ... something like Conan the Barbarian, but not quite so superhuman.
Volume I consists of a set of novelettes about Tarra Khash, man of the steppes. The titles are: Treasure of the Scarlet Scorpion, Isles of the Suhm-Yi, Told in the Desert, Curse of the Golden Guardians, Kiss of the Lamia, In the Temple of Terror.
British artist Jim Pitts did about 16 interior B&W illos (some small, some full-page) for this edition.
Volume II is a novel about Tarra Khash. Yibb-Tstll, eater of souls (one of the Cthulhu Mythos "Great Old Ones"), is ready to open the gates to Earth... with the aid of his immortal servant, Yoppaloth, who has used his arena of death to feed souls to Yibb-Tstll for a thousand years. Tarra Khash can prevent this by killing Yoppaloth in the arena. Only... if he does, he himself will become the immortal servant of Yibb-Tstll, doomed to open that gate himself.
Features dust jacket and numerous interiors by Jim Pitts.
I sometimes put these "Khash" books under eBay's category of "fantasy," and sometimes under "horror," but Brian Lumley's usual mix of fantasy, swords & sorcery, horror, adventure, etc, really does not easily fit into any eBay category.
Volume I is the first edition, a hard cover book, with 1300 published copies, of which 300 were numbered, signed on bookplates, and slipcased (but the slipcased edition is out of print).
Volume II is the first American edition (only printing), first hardcover edition, published in October, 1994 by W. Paul Ganley: Publisher. ISBN 0932445535. 1300 copies were printed and 300 were numbered, signed on bookplates, and slipcased: this "deluxe edition" is still available.
The books offered on this page are the regular hard cover copies that were NOT signed, numbered, slipcased etc.
Want to see photos of some of the interior illustrations? Check out these two books in my eBay store; they are listed individually.
__________________________________
Do you want the slipcased edition for Volume II (limited to 300 copies, signed on bookplates by author and artist)? It is still available, at $40 with free shipping in the U.S. (Sorry: Volume I is out of print in the slipcased edition.)
Note: The true first edition of Volume II was a British version published in paperback. Because the British version beat me to press, this is only the first AMERICAN and first HARDCOVER edition, and not just the plain "first."
PLEASE NOTE: A few years ago, Tor Books reprinted these two titles in had cover editions: COMPLEAT KHASH I as "Tarra Khash: Hrossak," and COMPLEAT KHASH II as "Sorcery in Shad." Don't buy both versions unless you really want them. My editions, listed above, were the first hard cover editions and first US editions... illustrated.
Want to look at my other first-edition Lumley books?
For all "buy it now" items, please use ADD TO CART if you plan to order more than one item at the same time.