I thought I’d feature a book for this week’s Fabulous Find. So looking over my various bookshelves, The Book Of Conquests written and drawn by Jim Fitzpatrick jumped out at me. The book was published in 1978, by Paper Tiger, a Dragon’s World Limited Imprint, which is a Great Britain entity, in conjunction with E. P. Dutton, a United States publishing house and the book was printed in Spain, by Printer Industria Grafica S. A. Wow, this book certainly qualifies as an international book, wouldn’t you say?
Here is the front cover:
The Book Of Conquests
As I mentioned above, the book is written and drawn by artist Jim Fitzpatrick. It is really a gorgeous book and Fitzpatrick is a very talented artist. The story is basically the retelling of certain Ireland folklore, which has been called “the earliest voice from the dawn of western European civilization”.
The retelling of this story is a labor of love for Fitzpatrick who grew up in Ireland hearing these very tales. As a boy in Clare, he first heard the fireside tellings of these stories of the Shi or the Fairy Folk, as the Tuatha De Danann are known today.
Fitzpatrick retells the story in seven (7) parts; The story of Tuan (his hero) and the conquest of the Fir Bolg, The coming of the Tuatha De Danann, The gathering of the Fir Bolg at Tara, The first battle of Moy Tura, The dream of Nuada, The battle frenzy of Nuada and The last battle and death of Eochai.
The story is pure folklore and his lovely art intricate, with Celtic ruins woven throughout the pages.
Here are a couple of the interior pages:
Interior image 01
Sorry that the left side of the image is a little fuzzy, I was having a little trouble with my scanner and the size of the book.
Here is a second interior illustration:
Interior page 02
I lost the top of this image, but you can image the full crow atop the warrior’s helmet.
I do not think the book is still in publication, but it cost $8.95 here in the U.S. and $11.25 in Canada when it was new. I really do not know what kind of money it brings in today on the secondary market, you’ll have to check eBay and Amazon, yourself.
That’s it for this Fabulous Find, hope you found it interesting and please come back next week for a new RETRO REVIEW.
