The Lives Of Christopher Chant. The Childhood Of Chrestomanci. Jones, Diana Wynne.

First edition, first impression, signed by the author on the title page and rare thus. This work is the fourth instalment in the Chrestomanci series, which documents Chant's "good-humoured attempts to control the abuse of magic throughout the world" (ODNB). It follows the series's opening novel, Charmed Life (1977), which won the 1978 Guardian children's fiction prize. Diana Wynne Jones (1934-2011) was a hugely influential fantasy writer and has been cited as a key inspiration by fellow authors such as Philip Pullman, Terry Pratchett, and J. K. Rowling. She read English at St Anne's College, Oxford, where she was taught by both C. S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkien. Her "extensive knowledge of myth, legend, and fairy tales sat easily with descriptions of contemporary young people, sometimes quarrelling but fundamentally of good heart" (ODNB). In 1999, she was awarded the Karl Edward Wagner prize for "important contribution to the genre" by the British Fantasy Society. Octavo. Original pale green boards, spine lettered in gilt. With dust jacket by Cathy Simpson. Contents lightly toned but clean; jacket sharp and unclipped: a near-fine copy in fine jacket.