London: Victor Gollancz Ltd, 1976. Octavo, boards. First edition. The author's first SF short story collection. "Four long tales, including the much-lauded "Piper at the Gates of Dawn" which proved to be the overture to his "White Bird of Kinship" trilogy of novels. Also outstanding is the title story, with its medieval setting and its message for the twentieth century." - Pringle, The Ultimate Guide to Science Fiction, second edition (1995), p. 83. [Reference: Anatomy of Wonder (2004) II-284].

New York: Pocket Books, [1979]. Octavo, boards. First U.S. hardcover edition. First printing with code "J 47" on page 209. First book of "The White Bird of Kinship" trilogy. 1979 Nebula nominee. Religious dystopia. "A thousand years hence an inundated Britain consists of many small islands, where a neo-medieval, theocratic society is disrupted by the coming of a millenarian cult which holds out the hope of social and spiritual renewal. Well-written, rather touching sf of a backward-looking pastoral sort." - Pringle, The Ultimate Guide to Science Fiction, second edition, p. 307. Text expanded, adds the prologue "Piper at the Gates of Dawn." [Reference: Anatomy of Wonder (2004) II-285. Sargent, British and American Utopian Literature, 1516-1985, Additions].