The Wyndham Collection: The Day of the Triffids, The Midwich Cuckoos and The Chrysalids

John Wyndham

Illustrated by Patrick Leger

Introduced by Adam Roberts

The Day of the Triffids, The Midwich Cuckoos and The Chrysalids – three unforgettable science-fiction visions from John Wyndham. This Folio edition is illustrated by Patrick Leger and introduced by Adam Roberts.

‘Remains fresh and disturbing in an entirely unexpected way’

Guardian

John Wyndham created some of the most intriguing and intelligent science fiction of the 20th century, and this special collection brings together three of his best works. His gripping stories show ordinary, sometimes heroic people reacting to unsettling or disastrous events that call into question the very nature of human society. With Wyndham’s writing, science fiction becomes an instrument to force us to look at our own world with fresh eyes and to examine our comfortable assumptions, from human superiority to the permanence of civilisation. These striking Folio editions feature superb illustrations by Patrick Leger and three unnerving binding designs, presented together in a blocked slipcase. Each novel is separately introduced by science-fiction writer Adam Roberts, who praises Wyndham’s books as some of the most perceptive and potently memorable fictions of the century.

PRODUCTION DETAILS

Quarter-bound in blocked cloth with printed paper sides

Set in Ehrhardt 

Vol 1: (Day of the Triffids) 272 pp 

Vol 2: (Midwich Cuckoos) 224 pp 

Vol 3: (The Chrysalids) 208 pp 

7 full page colour illustrations per volume 

Slipcase blocked with black and metallic magenta 

9˝ x 5 ¼˝

‘WATCH THOU FOR THE MUTANT!’

In the iconic The Day of the Triffids, strange green meteors turn every human who sees them blind, and the monstrous man-made plants known as ‘triffids’ see a chance to destroy their overlords. The Midwich Cuckoos introduces us to a sleepy village where every woman of childbearing age suddenly finds herself pregnant, and their eerie progeny are born with blond hair, golden eyes and sinister powers of telepathy. In the post-apocalyptic future of The Chrysalids, the farming community of Waknuk is ruled by puritan fundamentalists who see any mutation as the work of the devil – but change cannot be kept at bay forever. 

A PIONEER OF SPECULATIVE FICTION

For this special three-volume set, Patrick Leger has provided seven exciting colour images for each novel. These impactful illustrations are full of a delicious retro atmosphere, yet Leger never shies away from the horrors implied in Wyndham’s writing; whether the menace is a vicious ambulatory plant, an eerie alien child or a mutant, there’s always the sense that the nature of humanity is ultimately responsible. Wyndham understood that the greatest purpose of science fiction was to examine humanity’s past, present and future, and he did it all while entertaining with thrills and horrors beyond imagining. An important collection from an essential writer. 

ABOUT JOHN WYNDHAM

John Wyndham Parkes Lucas Beynon Harris was born in Warwickshire in 1903. After studying in Devon and Hampshire, Wyndham worked in advertising, law and commercial art before writing his first novel, The Curse of the Burdens (1927), while also selling short stories to science-fiction magazines. The Second World War put a temporary hold on his writing career, with Wyndham working in the Ministry of Information and later serving in the Royal Corps of Signals. Post-war, using the pen name John Wyndham, he wrote the commercially successful The Day of the Triffids (1951), which was followed by The Chrysalids, (1955) and The Midwich Cuckoos (1957), among other novels and a number of short stories. John Wyndham died in 1969 at the age of 65.

ABOUT PATRICK LEGER

Patrick Leger is a Brooklyn-based illustrator who studied at East Carolina University and the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. A narrative illustrator using striking compositions, Leger works on editorial, book, advertising and animation commissions. His clients include The New Yorker, Vanity Fair, Penguin, Apple and GQ, and his celebrated work on book covers has seen him commissioned for more than 70 to date.

ABOUT ADAM ROBERTS

British science-fiction and fantasy novelist Adam Roberts has a PhD from Cambridge University and teaches at Royal Holloway, University of London. He is the author of more than 20 novels, including Salt (2001), Gradisil (2007), and Yellow Blue Tibia (2010), all of which were nominated for the Arthur C. Clarke Award. In 2018, Roberts was elected Vice-President of the H. G. Wells Society.