The Last Unicorn
First edition dust jacket (Viking, 1968) | |
| Author | Peter S. Beagle |
|---|---|
| Cover artist | Unknown (depicted); Gervasio Gallardo (first paperback) |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Fantasy |
| Publisher | Viking Press |
Publication date | 1968 |
| Publication place | United States |
| Media type | Print (hardcover) |
| Pages | 218 (first) 248 (first paper) 288 (Deluxe Ed.) |
| ISBN | 0-345-02892-9 978-0-7607-8374-0 |
| LC Class | PZ4.B3657 Las PS3552.E13 |
| Preceded by | "The Woman Who Married the Man in the Moon" |
| Followed by | "Two Hearts" |
The Last Unicorn is a fantasy novel by American author Peter S. Beagle and published in 1968, by Viking Press in the U.S. and The Bodley Head in the U.K. It follows the tale of a unicorn, who believes she is the last of her kind in the world and undertakes a quest to discover what has happened to the other unicorns. It has sold more than six million copies worldwide since its original publication, and has been translated into at least twenty-five languages (prior to the 2007 edition).
In 1987, Locus ranked The Last Unicorn number five among the 33 "All-Time Best Fantasy Novels", based on a poll of subscribers; it ranked number eighteen in the 1998 rendition of the poll. It was recognized in 2024 as belonging to a "New Canon" of fantasy literature by Palgrave Macmillan, which published an academic study dedicated exclusively to it titled Peter S. Beagle's The Last Unicorn: A Critical Companion.