1983 "First Edition" stated on copyright page; "Translated From The German By Ralph Manheim"; pages are printed in red and green colored type; illustrated by Roswitha Quadflieg; Doubleday & Company publishers, New York; hardbound; very good condition with unmarked pages; dust jacket very good with minor edge wear/tear.
 
description -
The Neverending Story is a fantasy novel by German writer Michael Ende, first published in 1979. An English translation, by Ralph Manheim, was first published in 1983. The novel was later adapted into several films.
 
Plot -
The book centers on a boy, Bastian Balthazar Bux, an overweight and strange child who is neglected by his father after the death of Bastian's mother. While escaping from some bullies, Bastian bursts into the antiquarian book store of Carl Conrad Coreander, where he finds his interest held by a book called The Neverending Story. Unable to resist, he steals the book and hides in his school's attic, where he begins to read.
 
The story Bastian reads is set in the magical land of Fantastica, a place of wonder ruled by the benevolent and mysterious Childlike Empress. A great delegation has come to the Empress to seek her help against a formless entity called "The Nothing". The delegates are shocked when the Empress's physician, a centaur named Cairon, informs them that the Empress is dying, and has summoned a boy warrior named Atreyu, to find a cure. The Empress gives Atreyu a powerful medallion that protects him from all harm. At the advice of the giant turtle, Morla the Aged One, Atreyu sets off in search of an invisible oracle known as Uyulala, who may know the Empress's cure...