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The Black Company English covers

A survey of 5 covers of the first novel in English

The following is a cover gallery of the Black Company series novels and omnibuses, organized chronologically and by language. It showcases the wide variety of cover art, the long publication history of the series, as well as the diversity of languages into which the novels have been translated.

Many of the artworks seen below were commissioned specifically for their Black Company publications. These include the novel covers in: English (Keith Berdak, Nicholas Jainschigg, Raymond Swanland); French (Didier Graffet, Johan Camou, Slava Gerj); Serbian (Dejan Mandić); Finnish (Petri Hiltunen); and the recent Spanish reprints published by Montena (Adam S. Doyle). However, other covers featured "recycled" artwork that had appeared on prior, unrelated novels by different authors sometimes decades beforehand. Those include the novel covers of all but one of the first print run of the Polish editions (e.g. Oliviero Berni); AST's first Russian editions (e.g. Luis Royo); the Lithuanian editions (e.g. Royo and Frank Frazetta); several Bulgarian editions (e.g. Ken Kelly, Rowena Morrill); and, 8 out of 10 of the Spanish editions published by La Factoría de Ideas (e.g. Royo and Jan Patrik Krasny).

English: USA first publications[]

Novels (1984 – 2000)[]

The first 6 novels of the series were published in mass market paperback format by Tor Books and featured cover artwork by Keith Berdak.

The 4 novels of the Books of Glittering Stone were first published in hardcover format by Tor Books and featured cover artwork by Nicholas Jainschigg.

Omnibuses (1986; 2000 – 2002)[]

Shown here are the first omnibuses of the series, published by the Science Fiction Book Club in hardcover format. These were made available only to SFBC members and received very limited distribution. (For the English-language omnibuses that are still available, see the "English: still in print" section below.)

English: UK (1992)[]

The 3 Books of the North were published by Roc for sale in the United Kingdom in 1992. Like the first American editions, they were printed in mass market paperback format and featured the same cover artwork by Keith Berdak, although the stylized letterings of the titles were changed.

Russian: North-West (1993 – 1994)[]

The first 2 Books of the North were translated into Russian by North-West (Северо-Запад / Severo-Zapad) but were "pirated"/unauthorized editions. They both contained original interior illustrations by the cover artist, Vladislav Asadullin‏‎. These are not the same Russian translations which were published later (see below) by AST.

Polish: first publications (1993 – 2002)[]

The 10 original Black Company novels were translated into Polish and published by Rebis. Also included in the gallery below are the 2 newer covers that were included in the republished editions of the first two novels.

Russian: АSТ Dragon Age Chronicles (1997 – 2001)[]

The 10 original Black Company novels were translated into Russian and published in individual hardcover format by AST (ACT) as part of the Dragon Age Chronicles (Век Дракона Хроники / Vek Drakona Khroniki) series. The translations of the first two novels here are unrelated to the unauthorized translations published several years prior by North-West (see above).

Lithuanian (1997 – 2006)[]

The Lithuanian publishing house Eridanas only published the first 8 novels, with She Is the Darkness (Tamsa - tai ji) being split into two books, as shown.

French: L'Atalante[]

The French publisher L'Atalante published the 10 original Black Company novels in a higher-quality paperback format ("broché"). These were later republished by J'ai lu (see the "French: J'ai lu" galleries below) in smaller ("poche") paperback editions.

Novels (1998 – 2006)[]

All artwork by Didier Graffet:

Omnibuses (2005 – 2008)[]

German: Blanvalet (1999)[]

These German translations of the Books of the North, translated by Heiko Langhans, are out-of-print:

Czech (2000; 2006)[]

The Czech publishing house Brokilon only published the first 4 novels of the series. The 3 Books of the North were published in 2000, followed by Shadow Games (Hry stínů) six years later. The interior of Hry stínů lists Sny o oceli and Stříbrný hrot – the planned Czech translations of Dreams of Steel and The Silver Spike respectively – but these were never published.

Hungarian (2000 – 2001; 2006)[]

Russian: АSТ Golden Fantasy (2000 – 2001; 2008)[]

The 10 original Black Company novels were republished in Russian by AST (ACT) as part of the Golden Fantasy series (Золотая серия фэнтези / Zolotaya seriya fentezi). Unlike the prior editions (the Dragon Age Chronicles [Век Дракона Хроники / Vek Drakona Khroniki] shown above) from the same publisher, this series presented the first 8 novels in 4 pairings. The first 2 pairings were republished in 2008 with alternative covers as noted:

Spanish: La Factoría de Ideas (2001 – 2015)[]

The 10 original Black Company novels were translated into Spanish and published by La Factoría de Ideas.

Bulgarian (2002 – 2014)[]

The 10 original Black Company novels were translated into Bulgarian and published by Лира Принт (Lira Print).

French: J'ai lu novels, Johan Camou covers (2004 – 2011)[]

The French publisher J'ai lu republished the 10 original Black Company novels that had previously been printed by L'Atalante (see the "French: L'Atalante" gallery above). Whereas L'Atalante produced them in a higher-quality paperback format ("broché"), the J'ai lu editions are smaller ("poche") paperback editions.

The first print runs of the individual novels published by J'ai lu featured the cover art of Johan Camou, shown here. (Beginning in December 2018 these were replaced with new cover art by Slava Gerj in subsequent reprints.)

Serbian (2005 – 2008)[]

English (2007 – 2018) still in print[]

Artwork by Raymond Swanland:

Russian: 2008 publications[]

АSТ Dragon Age 2[]

These Russian hardcovers were part of AST's Dragon Age 2 series (Век дракона 2 / Vek Drakona 2). They are repackaged editions of the same translations which had appeared in the publisher's Golden Fantasy hardcover series (Золотая серия фэнтези / Zolotaya seriya fentezi) shown above. Furthermore, each title within had been published individually as part of AST's older Dragon Age Chronicles hardcover series (Век Дракона Хроники / Vek Drakona Khroniki), also shown above.

4-book omnibuses[]

AST (ACT) published two different hardcover omnibuses in 2008 which are reportedly identical except for the cover. Each was a collection of the 3 Books of the North and also Shadow Games, which is an atypical arrangement. Subsequent omnibuses for the rest of the novels in both of these series were planned, but apparently never published.

Polish (2009 – 2019) still in print[]

The Polish publisher Rebis republished the 10 original novels in omnibuses, using the same artwork by Raymond Swanland from the corresponding American omnibuses. They also translated and published Port of Shadows in 2019.

English audiobooks (2010)[]

Romanian (2010 – 2011)[]

The Romanian publishing house Millennium Books only published the first 2 books of the series. The back of the second paperback featured an advertisement for Roza Albă – a planned Romanian translation of The White Rose – but this was cancelled due to insufficient demand.

Brazilian Portuguese (2012 – 2014)[]

Russian (2013)[]

Astrel (Астрель), a part of AST (ACT), had plans to repackage the Russian translations of the series yet again. They would be in single-book hardcovers, just as they originally appeared in АSТ's 1997 – 2001 Dragon Age Chronicles series (Век Дракона Хроники / Vek Drakona Khroniki), whereas in the intervening years most of the novels appeared in pairings (all shown above). But only the first two novels were published, both in 2013. The front covers of both are collages of unrelated artworks.

French: J'ai lu omnibuses (2015 – 2016) still in print[]

Finnish (2015 – 2017)[]

Russian: Азбука (2018 – 2020) still in print[]

French: J'ai lu novels, Slava Gerj covers (2018 – 2020) still in print[]

Beginning in December 2018, the publisher J'ai lu refreshed the covers of the individual novels with new artwork by Slava Gerj, replacing the prior art by Johan Camou shown in the gallery above. However the content, the ISBNs, and even the publication dates (as they appear on J'ai lu's publisher website) remained the same.

Spanish: Montena (2019 – 2020) still in print[]

Polish audiobooks (2019)[]

Persian (2014 – 2020)[]

European Portuguese (2019 – 2020) still in print[]

German: Mantikore (2015 – 2022) still in print[]

Italian (2021)[]

English (2022 Tor reprint)[]

The first novel was reprinted in single-volume format in February 2022 as part of the Tor Essentials backlist line from Tom Doherty Associates. This is the first time the novel in English appeared in either hardcover or trade paperback size; previous English publications of the first novel in single-volume format were all mass market paperbacks.

Russian Soyuz audiobooks (2022)[]

English (2023 Midworld Press)[]

On 19 November 2022, Midworld Press began accepting pre-orders for their signed, limited hardcover editions of the first novel. It contains new cover artwork and 4 interior images by Kai Carpenter.

Chinese (2017 – 2023) still in print[]

Hungarian (2023 – 2024) still in print[]

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