Gino D’Achille never did another cover in the Dragonriders of Pern series, which I think is a pity. The versions above, which refer to the books as Volume I and II in the series for the first time, are from 19. His covers remained on the books through multiple reprintings until Whelan arrived on the scene in 1978. He painted the cover for the original release of Dragonquest in 1971, and then Dragonflight in 1973.

Like Whelan, D’Achille was hired first to paint the cover of the newly released volume, and then commissioned to re-cover the earlier one. The covers are more whimsical and fairy-tale like, and speak to me of 1970s fantasy. Both books were Ballantine paperback originals. He did a fine job, and was subsequently hired for the next four volumes in the series.īut I still admit a great fondness for the early 70s covers of the first two books (above), both painted by Gino D’Achille. The White Dragon became the first bestseller in the series, and Whelan was hired by Ballantine to create new covers for the first two novels, Dragonflight and Dragonquest, late in 1978.

The artist most closely associated with it is probably Michael Whelan, who was hired to paint the cover for the third novel, The White Dragon, published in June 1978. All told there are sixteen novels, written between 19, the last two in collaboration with her son Todd. Anne McCaffrey’s Dragonriders of Pern is one of the most famous and bestselling science fantasy series of all time.

Dragonquest mccaffrey