The Discworld Companion

The Discworld Companion
Cover of the first edition
Author(s)	Terry Pratchett and Stephen Briggs
Illustrator	Stephen Briggs
Cover artist	Josh Kirby
Country	Great Britain
Language	English
Series	Discworld
Publisher	Gollancz
Publication date	1994
Media type	Print (Hardcover and Paperback)
Pages	288 pp
ISBN	0-575-05764-5

The Discworld Companion is an encyclopaedia of the Discworld fictional universe created by Terry Pratchett and Stephen Briggs.^[1]

The book compiles a precise (and often quoted directly from the books concerned) definition of words, lives of historical people, geography of places and events that have appeared in at least one Discworld novel, map, diary, non-fiction book and the short stories "Troll Bridge", "Theatre of Cruelty", and "The Sea and Little Fishes".

The first edition was published in 1994 and listed information from all the novels up to Soul Music, as well as the first two short stories.

The second edition was published in 1997, and adds information up to Maskerade.

The third edition named The New Discworld Companion was published in 2003. It includes articles about books up to Night Watch, as well as Discworld related books and short stories. The book also contains a 10-page interview with Pratchett titled Discworld Quo Vadis?.

All of them also include information that exists on Pratchett's computer, but that he has not yet worked into a novel (for instance, William de Worde is mentioned in the first edition, six years before the publication of The Truth).

At the end of each article is an abbreviation indicating the book(s) in which the word, person, event or place appeared (if there are too many, then no abbreviation is used). The book also includes an introduction by Stephen Briggs and an interview with Terry Pratchett, both of which have also been "updated" in each edition.

Publication history

• Pratchett, Terry; Stephen Briggs (1994). The Discworld Companion. London: Gollancz. ISBN 0-575-05764-5.  Hardcover
• Pratchett, Terry; Stephen Briggs (1995). The Discworld Companion. London: Gollancz. ISBN 0-575-06002-6.  trade paperback
• Pratchett, Terry; Stephen Briggs (1997). The Discworld Companion Updated. London: Gollancz. ISBN 0-575-60030-6.  Paperback
• Pratchett, Terry; Stephen Briggs (2000). The Discworld Companion Updated. London: Gollancz. ISBN 0-575-60030-6.  Paperback, US edition
• Pratchett, Terry; Stephen Briggs (2002). The New Discworld Companion. London: Gollancz. ISBN 0-575-07467-1.  Trade paperback, 544 pp.
• Pratchett, Terry; Stephen Briggs (2003). The New Discworld Companion. London: Gollancz. ISBN 0-575-07467-1.  Trade paperback, 280 pp. Omits "Where Am I?"
• Pratchett, Terry; Stephen Briggs (2003). The New Discworld Companion. London: Gollancz. ISBN 0-575-07555-4.  Paperback, 472 pp.

References

Notes

1. ^ Clute and Grant 1997, pp. 784-785.

Bibliography

• Clute, John and John Grant. The Encyclopedia of Fantasy. New York: St Martin's Press, 1997. ISBN 0-312-15897-1 / London: Orbit Books, 1997. ISBN 978-1857233681.

External links

• Discworld & Pratchett Wiki
• The Discworld Companion publication history at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database
• The Discworld Companion Updated publication history at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database
• The New Discworld Companion publication history at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database