Born in 1948 in Bayonne (the one in New Jersey!), George R. R. Martin — now nicknamed “the American Tolkien” — began writing a fantasy cycle in the early 1990s that he called A Song of Ice and Fire. The first volume, A Game of Thrones, was published in 1996, followed by A Clash of Kings (1999) and A Storm of Swords (2001).
The series won numerous literary prizes and achieved considerable commercial success, buoyed by the popularity of Harry Potter. In January 2007, the television network HBO acquired the adaptation rights, with episodes airing from April 2011. George R. R. Martin took part in the production and wrote the screenplay for one episode in each of the first four seasons, and the series enjoyed unprecedented success for a show of its kind.
The cycle’s reputation in the United States was established immediately upon publication: it won the Locus Award, voted annually by readers of the leading American science-fiction magazine. The first Fantasy winner had been J. R. R. Tolkien with The Silmarillion, in 1978. Remarkably, George R. R. Martin was honored for every title published: the first two volumes won in 1997, and the following three in 1999 — beating Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, the first volume of J. K. Rowling’s saga, which would nonetheless be honored the following year with Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.
This was the first time in the history of the award that successive volumes of the same cycle won the main prize. Critics regard A Song of Ice and Fire as “one of the best fantasy series ever written” (Denver Post); it has sold more than 15 million copies and been translated into more than twenty languages — even before the television series exponentially increased these figures.
The three volumes were translated into French less than two years after their American publication. The television series brought them further fame, with complete editions and numerous other editions, illustrated or not. First printings with the correct dates (May, January and February of the correct years) are rare and very difficult to assemble.
A fine set, in excellent condition.