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The Books of the North trilogy is the first story arc of the Black Company series:

  1. The Black Company (May 1984)
  2. Shadows Linger (October 1984)
  3. The White Rose (April 1985)

This trilogy describes the adventures of the Black Company during their service to – and later rivalry against – the Lady and her sprawling Empire. Chapter 1 ("Legate") of the first novel takes place on the northern coast of the southern continent; all other events of the Books of the North take place in the northern continent.

The Books of the North are followed by the Books of the South and then the 4 Books of Glittering Stone.

Decades after the Books of the North were first printed, several other narratives were published which take place during the same time period as the Books of the North:

  • The interquel Port of Shadows (2018), which was published almost 35 years after the Books of the North, chronologically takes place during the six-year gap between The Black Company and Shadows Linger. While Port takes place during the same time frame of the Books of the North, it is not listed as one because of the publication history and because it is a "lost history" narrative which describes forgotten events.
  • The short stories of the On The Long Run arc occur between Shadows Linger and The White Rose.

Trilogy publications[]

The following omnibuses and boxed sets encompass the three Books of the North. They are grouped by languages; the languages with the earliest publications are listed first. Not listed below is the digital compendium Annals of the Black Company, which also includes the Books of the South and of Glittering Stone.

English omnibuses[]

United States[]

The first omnibus of the Books of the North in any language was the Science Fiction Book Club's English-language hardcover. First released in 1986 and later reprinted in 2000, it was available only to SFBC members. It received very limited distribution and is no longer in print:

Annals Black Company Nelson Doubleday
  • Title: Annals of the Black Company
  • Page shown: Front cover
  • Author: Glen Cook
  • Language: English
  • Translator: (none)
  • Publisher: Nelson Doubleday / Science Fiction Book Club
  • Pub date: 1986
  • Cover art by: Tom Kidd
  • ISBN: the hardcover shown had no ISBN


Annals Black Company SFBC
  • Title: Annals of the Black Company
  • Page shown: Front cover
  • Author: Glen Cook
  • Language: English
  • Translator: (none)
  • Publisher: Nelson Doubleday / Science Fiction Book Club
  • Pub date: 2000 reprint shown
  • Cover art by: Tom Kidd
  • ISBN: 9780739413029 (hardcover)


The next English-language omnibus is still in print from Tom Doherty Associates (Tor Books imprint) and is widely available in e-book format:

Chronicles-of-the-black-company
  • Title: Chronicles of the Black Company
  • Page shown: Front cover
  • Author: Glen Cook
  • Language: English
  • Translator: (none)
  • Publisher: Tom Doherty Associates (Tor Books imprint)
  • Pub date: 13 November 2007; (paperback); October 2012 (e-book)
  • Cover art by: Raymond Swanland
  • ISBN: 9780765319234 (paperback); 9781466831087 (e-book)


United Kingdom[]

The Black Company 2008 Gollancz front
  • Title: Chronicles of the Black Company
  • Page shown: Front cover (see also back cover)
  • Author: Glen Cook
  • Language: English
  • Translator: (none)
  • Publisher: Gollancz (UK)
  • Pub date: 18 September 2008 (paperback); 7 October 2010 (e-book)
  • Cover art by: Raymond Swanland
  • ISBN: 9780575084179 (paperback); 9780575086623 (e-book)


French publications[]

L'Atalante omnibus[]

Books of the North (L'Atalante 2005) Cover
  • Title: Les Livres du Nord
  • Page shown: Front cover
  • Author: Glen Cook
  • Language: French
  • Translator: Patrick Couton, Alain Robert
  • Publisher: L'Atalante
  • Pub date: 25 May 2005
  • Cover art by: Didier Graffet
  • ISBN: 9782841723058 (paperback)


J'ai lu boxed set[]

J'ai lu box set 9782277612964
  • Title: La Compagnie noire Coffret en 3 volumes : Tome 1, La Compagnie noire ; Tome 2, Le château noir ; Tome 3, La Rose Blanche
  • Page shown: Boxed set front and side
  • Author: Glen Cook
  • Language: French
  • Translator: Patrick Couton; Alain Robert
  • Publisher: J'ai lu
  • Pub date: October 2006
  • Cover art by: Johan Camou
  • ISBN: 9782277612964 (boxed set [coffret])


J'ai lu omnibus[]

Books of the North (J'ai Lu 2015) Cover
  • Title: Les Annales de la Compagnie Noire: L'Intégrale 1
  • Page shown: Front cover
  • Author: Glen Cook
  • Language: French
  • Translator: Patrick Couton, Alain Robert
  • Publisher: J'ai lu
  • Pub date: February 2015
  • Cover art by: Samuel White
  • ISBN: 9782290102343 (print); 9782290102350 (e-book); 9782290102367 (PDF)


Polish omnibus[]

Polish omnibus 1 Rebis


Spanish omnibus[]

Spanish Books of the North (La Factoria) front
  • Title: La Compañía Negra: Trilogía de los Libros del Norte
  • Page shown: Front cover
  • Author: Glen Cook
  • Language: Spanish
  • Translator: Domingo Santos
  • Publisher: La Factoría de Ideas
  • Pub date: 9 November 2012 (paperback); 10 January 2015 (e-book)
  • Cover art by: Luis Royo
  • ISBN: 9788490181348 (paperback); 9788490186145 (e-book)


Chinese boxed set[]

Chinese Books of the North set front
  • Title: 北境三部曲
  • Page shown: Sleeve of boxed set, front and side
  • Author: 格伦·库克 (Glen Cook)
  • Language: Simplified Chinese
  • Translator: Ma Xiao; Yong-Jun Liu; Suida Liu Ce
  • Publisher: Jiangsu Phoenix Literature and Art Publishing House
  • Pub date: 1 September 2017
  • Cover art by: (unknown)
  • ISBN: 9787497922329 (boxed set)


Russian omnibus[]

Russian omnibus 1 Chronicles front
  • Title: Хроники Черного Отряда
  • Page shown: Front cover
  • Author: Глен Кук (Glen Cook)
  • Language: Russian
  • Translator: Андрея Новикова (Andrey Novikov), Данизля Смушковича (Danizlya Smushkovich), Максима Шведова (Maxim Shvedova)
  • Publisher: Азбука-Аттикус (ABC-Atticus)
  • Pub date: 18 July 2018
  • Cover art by: Raymond Swanland
  • ISBN: 9785389114777 (hardcover); 9785389152106 (e-book)


Italian omnibus[]

Italian Chronicles of the Black Company trilogy front
  • Title: Cronache della Compagnia Nera
  • Page shown: Front cover
  • Author: Glen Cook
  • Language: Italian
  • Translator: Stefano Cresti
  • Publisher: Arnoldo Mondadori Editore
  • Pub date: 31 August 2021
  • Cover art by: Raymond Swanland
  • ISBN: 9788804735199 (paperback); 9788835711971 (e-book)


Atypical publications[]

This section is reserved for nontraditional volumes, that is, publications which included the Books of the North trilogy as well as other stories.

2008 Russian 4-book omnibuses[]

In 2008, the Russian translations of the 3 Books of the North were published along with Shadow Games in single hardcover volumes by AST (ACT). This atypical arrangement appeared in two different series: под Дозоры and Библиотека мировой фантастики ("Library of World Fiction"), which are reportedly identical except for the cover.

Subsequent omnibuses for the rest of the novels in both of these series were planned, but apparently never published.

Series: под Дозоры[]

Russian 4 book hardcover series pod Dozory
  • Title: Черный Отряд: Черный Отряд, Тени сгущаются, Белая Роза, Игра Теней
  • Page shown: Front cover
  • Author: Глен Кук (Glen Cook)
  • Language: Russian
  • Translator: TBC: Андрей Вадимович Новиков (Andrey Vadimovich Novikov); SL: Ирина Васильева (Irina Vasilyeva); TWR: Данизля Смушковича (Danizlya Smushkovich); SG: Дмитрия Старкова (Dmitry Starkov)
  • Publisher: АСТ (AST) and АСТ Москва (AST Moscow)
  • Pub date: 2008
  • Cover art by: Luis Royo (lower); Wojciech Siudmak (upper left)
  • ISBN: Hardcovers: 978-5-17-050404-6 (ACT); 978-5-9713-9337-5 (АСТ Москва)


Series: Library of World Fiction[]

This hardcover, from the Библиотека мировой фантастики ("Library of World Fiction") series seems to have the distinction of being the only Black Company publication that does not feature cover art.

Russian 4 book hardcover series Biblioteka
  • Title: Черный Отряд: Черный Отряд, Тени сгущаются, Белая Роза, Игра Теней
  • Page shown: Front cover
  • Author: Глен Кук (Glen Cook)
  • Language: Russian
  • Translator: TBC: Андрей Вадимович Новиков (Andrey Vadimovich Novikov); SL: Ирина Васильева (Irina Vasilyeva); TWR: Данизля Смушковича (Danizlya Smushkovich); SG: Дмитрия Старкова (Dmitry Starkov)
  • Publisher: АСТ (AST) and АСТ Москва (AST Moscow)
  • Pub date: 2008
  • Cover art by: (no artwork on cover)
  • ISBN: Hardcovers: 978-5-17-050386-5 (ACT); 978-5-9713-9338-2 (АСТ Москва)
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