
More inspired lunacy in the third of Adams’s ‘trilogy of five’, here introduced by his friend, the acclaimed comedy writer Jon Canter.
Illustrated by Jonathan Burton
Introduced by Terry Jones
In the first in his ‘trilogy of five’, Douglas Adams introduces us Earthbound readers to Zaphod Beeblebrox, the Babel fish, Pan Galactic Gargle Blasters and Marvin the Paranoid Android.
‘A wonderful and exhilarating ride’
- Terry Jones
The earth is about to be demolished by the Vogons to make way for a new hyperspatial express route. Luckily for Arthur Dent, his friend Ford Prefect turns out to be an alien from Betelgeuse and ‘a roving researcher for that wholly remarkable book The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy’. Seconds before the planet is vaporised, Arthur and Ford escape by hitching a lift on the flagship of Prostetnic Vogon Jeltz ...
Douglas Adams brilliantly combines science fiction with the finest tradition of English humour. In this, the first of his ‘trilogy of five’, he introduces Earthbound readers to Zaphod Beeblebrox, Marvin the Paranoid Android, Pan Galactic Gargle Blasters, the Babel fish and the stolen Heart of Gold starship. Ford knows how to see the Marvels of the Universe for less than 30 Altairian dollars a day, and is overjoyed to be back on the road. Arthur takes a different view. Cut adrift in a strange universe, his planet a smoking ruin, he frequently has to be reminded of the friendly advice inscribed on the cover of his new guidebook: DON’T PANIC.
Bound in blocked glittered cloth
Set in Sabon
192 pages
Frontispiece and 7 colour illustrations
Plain slipcase
9˝ × 5¾˝
An international best-seller and a comedic triumph, this pan-Galactic odyssey reveals its author’s erudition on all topics relating to Life, the Universe and Everything. It has appeared in film, radio and television adaptations all over the world – and possibly beyond. This Folio Society edition is introduced by Terry Jones, a friend of Adams and fellow traveller in the universe of surreal comedy.
‘Inspired lunacy that leaves hardly a science-fiction cliché alive’
- Washington Post
Born in Cambridge in 1952, Douglas Adams studied at Brentwood boarding school before going on to earn a BA, and later an MA, from Cambridge. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (1979) was originally written as a weekly radio series and was later developed into a novel. This was followed by The Restaurant at the End of the Universe (1980), Life, the Universe and Everything (1982), So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish (1984) and Mostly Harmless (1992). Adams died in 2001.
Jonathan Burton has worked as an illustrator since 1999, after graduating with an MA from Kingston University, London. He has been awarded two silver medals from the Society of Illustration in New York, two Awards of Excellence from Communication Arts, and has received the Overall Professional Award for 2013 from the Association of Illustrators. For The Folio Society he has also illustrated Cover Her Face by P. D. James, Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell, and the entire Hitchhikers series. He lives in Bordeaux, France.