The Wasp Factory Limited Edition | Fewer than 75 remain
Since the publication of the first volume of His Dark Materials in 1995, Philip Pullman’s trilogy has won millions of readers, garnered countless awards and accolades and been adapted for stage and screen. The Amber Spyglass, the third volume, was the first ever children’s book to be awarded the Whitbread Book of the Year Award, confirming the trilogy as a work that demands to be read by all. The Folio Society’ incredible fully illustrated hardback edition is illustrated by Peter Bailey with black and white chapter openings by the author.

Production Details

Bound in printed and blocked cloth
Printed and blocked slipcase
3 volume set

Dimensions

9½ inches x 6¼ inches

Pages

1,168 pages

Author

Philip Pullman

Illustrated By

Peter Bailey

Illustration

Frontispiece and 10 full-page colour illustrations in each volume
Chapter opening drawings throughout by Philip Pullman

Publication Date

27/10/2008

Philip Pullman

His Dark Materials

£175
Step into Lyra’s extraordinary world of daemons, Dust and armoured bears with Philip Pullman’s award-winning His Dark Materials trilogy, brought vividly to life with illustrations by Peter Bailey.

Illustrated By Peter Bailey

Perfect Additions

His Dark Materials

£175

About the Illustrator

Peter Bailey

Peter Bailey is one of Britain’s best-known book illustrators, who has worked with authors including Allan Ahlberg and Dick King Smith. He is best known for his work on children’s fiction but has also undertaken commissions for adult books – including several commissions for The Folio Society. He was born in India and grew up in London, where his father worked at the Victoria & Albert Museum. Bailey has said that time he spent there as a child influenced his development as an artist. He studied at Brighton School of Art and taught illustration at Liverpool School of Art for 20 years until 1997. Particularly recognised for his long-time collaboration with Philip Pullman, for whose novels he produces extraordinary, intricate ink drawings, he has illustrated Folio editions of His Dark Materials (2008), La Belle Sauvage (2021) and The Secret Commonwealth (2022).

1 of 5

About the Illustrator

Peter Bailey

Peter Bailey is one of Britain’s best-known book illustrators, who has worked with authors including Allan Ahlberg and Dick King Smith. He is best known for his work on children’s fiction but has also undertaken commissions for adult books – including several commissions for The Folio Society. He was born in India and grew up in London, where his father worked at the Victoria & Albert Museum. Bailey has said that time he spent there as a child influenced his development as an artist. He studied at Brighton School of Art and taught illustration at Liverpool School of Art for 20 years until 1997. Particularly recognised for his long-time collaboration with Philip Pullman, for whose novels he produces extraordinary, intricate ink drawings, he has illustrated Folio editions of His Dark Materials (2008), La Belle Sauvage (2021) and The Secret Commonwealth (2022).

2 of 5

About the Illustrator

Peter Bailey

Peter Bailey is one of Britain’s best-known book illustrators, who has worked with authors including Allan Ahlberg and Dick King Smith. He is best known for his work on children’s fiction but has also undertaken commissions for adult books – including several commissions for The Folio Society. He was born in India and grew up in London, where his father worked at the Victoria & Albert Museum. Bailey has said that time he spent there as a child influenced his development as an artist. He studied at Brighton School of Art and taught illustration at Liverpool School of Art for 20 years until 1997. Particularly recognised for his long-time collaboration with Philip Pullman, for whose novels he produces extraordinary, intricate ink drawings, he has illustrated Folio editions of His Dark Materials (2008), La Belle Sauvage (2021) and The Secret Commonwealth (2022).

3 of 5

About the Illustrator

Peter Bailey

Peter Bailey is one of Britain’s best-known book illustrators, who has worked with authors including Allan Ahlberg and Dick King Smith. He is best known for his work on children’s fiction but has also undertaken commissions for adult books – including several commissions for The Folio Society. He was born in India and grew up in London, where his father worked at the Victoria & Albert Museum. Bailey has said that time he spent there as a child influenced his development as an artist. He studied at Brighton School of Art and taught illustration at Liverpool School of Art for 20 years until 1997. Particularly recognised for his long-time collaboration with Philip Pullman, for whose novels he produces extraordinary, intricate ink drawings, he has illustrated Folio editions of His Dark Materials (2008), La Belle Sauvage (2021) and The Secret Commonwealth (2022).

4 of 5

About the Illustrator

Peter Bailey

Peter Bailey is one of Britain’s best-known book illustrators, who has worked with authors including Allan Ahlberg and Dick King Smith. He is best known for his work on children’s fiction but has also undertaken commissions for adult books – including several commissions for The Folio Society. He was born in India and grew up in London, where his father worked at the Victoria & Albert Museum. Bailey has said that time he spent there as a child influenced his development as an artist. He studied at Brighton School of Art and taught illustration at Liverpool School of Art for 20 years until 1997. Particularly recognised for his long-time collaboration with Philip Pullman, for whose novels he produces extraordinary, intricate ink drawings, he has illustrated Folio editions of His Dark Materials (2008), La Belle Sauvage (2021) and The Secret Commonwealth (2022).

5 of 5

Author image

About the Author

Philip Pullman

Sir Philip Pullman was born in Norwich and grew up in Wales, though he also travelled extensively due to his father’s work as a pilot in the Royal Air Force. He graduated from Exeter College, Oxford, with a third-class BA in English in 1968 (Oxford later honoured him with a D.Litt. in 2009). As a schoolboy and student he discovered John Milton’s Paradise Lost and the poetry of William Blake, both of which have been significant influences on his own writing. He began publishing children’s fiction while working as a teacher in Summertown, north Oxford, a job he left after the success of Northern Lights (1995; published as The Golden Compass in the United States), the first book in the trilogy His Dark Materials (Folio edition 2008). The trilogy won the Carnegie Medal and, later, the ‘Carnegie of Carnegies’, as well as the Guardian Children’s Fiction Prize. It has been adapted for stage and TV, and the first book was also the basis for a major feature film. The Book of Dust, another trilogy with some of the same characters and deepening the exploration of Pullman’s ideas, includes La Belle Sauvage (2017; Folio 2021) and The Secret Commonwealth (2019; Folio 2022). Pullman is also known for the Sally Lockhart series and as an editor of fairy tales by the Brothers Grimm. He has served as President of the Society of Authors and is a notable campaigner for public libraries in the UK.