Joan of Arc, 1971, Series 561 (1st)

Joan of Arc was the 28th title in the 561 series, colourfully written by L du Garde Peach and illustrated by John Kenney – one of the last books issued before the ill-health of Kenney put an end to this great collaboration.  I had this book as a child and read it many times.  There were so few important women in the Adventures in History series that any book with a woman actually on the cover was bound to seize my attention.  Of course, rooting for Joan meant booing for the English – but I seem to have reconciled myself to the idea without too much trouble.  In the 1970s the company was sold to the Longman-Pearson group who looked for ways to modernise the appearance of the books.  From the 1970s onwards they started to reprint the earlier history books with different covers – a white cover with a picture in a blue frame.  Inside, the books stayed unchanged.  (Later they went on to produce completely different editions of some of the older titles – different text and illustrations.  However, Joan of Arc was not one of these)

This copy:

Matt boards. Very good condition inside and light wear and nice, clean pages.  Some heavier edgewear t0 spine and corners but still Good/VG.  This copy dates to the early 1970s  and, with a tally number of 280, I believe it to be a first edition.