Second row: The first American edition of the novel ( left) from Viking is notable for its complete absence of a unicorn, a situation rectified for the first UK edition. Beagle, a man who knows a thing or two about unicorns. Thank heavens, though, that he persevered and now publishes this funny, darkly winsome fragment.Top: Peter S. While the first draft opens the same as the novel, the principal characters other than the unicorn are different. He stalled on the first draft, returning to the concept only after a cross-country motor-scooter trip and his book about it, I See by My Outfit (1965).
“Beagle’s modern fantasy classic, The Last Unicorn (1968), didn’t come easily. Collectors and those interested in the gestation of Beagle's masterpiece will best appreciate this imperfect gem." As in the completed text, an immortal unicorn leaves her lilac wood in search of other unicorns.
Beagle's introduction illuminates his thought processes behind the composition of The Last Unicorn, while his afterword explains 'the occasional haunting connection' between this version and the finished one. "This fragment is Beagle's first, unsuccessful attempt at writing what became his classic fantasy, The Last Unicorn (1968), though even his failures are marvels of wry humor and brilliant prose styling. Limited: Fully cloth bound hardcover, signed by the author. This first take on the beloved classic - so much the same, so very different - is now available to readers for the first time, with an introduction and commentary by the author. What Peter wrote next was an 80-page fragment about a unicorn, the last of her kind, lost in the modern world of superhighways and Kodak cameras, with only a banished demon from Hell for a traveling companion. His fantasy novel A Fine and Private Place had been released to great critical acclaim in 1960, but his mainstream second book had been flatly rejected by his publisher. In 1962, the 23 year-old Beagle was at a career crossroads. But none of the fans of this amazing work have ever known the full story of how The Last Unicorn came to be. Beagle's The Last Unicorn has sold at least six million copies around the world since it was published in 1968, and tens of millions of viewers have delighted in the animated film version (for which Peter also wrote the screenplay).
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