PULLMAN, Philip. The Golden Compass. Advanced Readers' Copy. Book One of His Dark Materials. NY: Alfred A. Knopf [1996]. 12mo, viii 401pp. Full color paper binding. A fine copy of this Advanced Readers' Copy issued in advance of the first hardcover edition. Signed by the author, Philip Pullman.

Advanced Readers' Copy.Lyra Belacqua and her daemon, Pantalaimon, set out to stop her mother - who she hardly knows - from using her best friend and other kidnapped children in a horrible experiment. Along the way she is assisted by witch clans, gyptians, and the great armoured bear, Iorek Byrnison. Winner of Britain's covetedCarnegie Medalfor the finest children's novel of the year, this is the powerful, stunningly original first volume in Pullman's award-winningHis Dark Materialstrilogy - a work already being compared to Tolkien'sLord of the Ringsas one of the greatest works of fantasy.