THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO / THE GIRL WHO PLAYED WITH FIRE / THE GIRL WHO KICKED THE HORNETS NEST [Trilogy]

London: MacLehose Press / Quercus, 2009. First UK edition. All volumes about fine.. Scarce first printings in English of Larsson's Millennium trilogy. Full set of Larsson's crime novels, published posthumously. The series was first published in Swedish, starting in 2005; the English translation of the first novel appeared in 2008 and met with great international success. Its original title (Män som hatar kvinnor) notoriously translates as 'Men Who Hate Women,' an unvarnished thematic statement judged too bleak or too honest for the international market. The cheerier, catchy GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO was adopted as the official English title, and the two novels that followed used the similar winning 'Girl Who...' formula. The "girl" of the titles - the quasi-superheroic and Pippi Longstocking-esque (Larsson's acknowledged inspiration) but fully adult Lisbeth Salander was portrayed in two successive and successful film adaptations by Noomi Rapace and Rooney Mara respectively, and her character remains a reference point for gritty trauma-informed antiheroism.

Like his hero Mikael Blomqvist, Larsson was an investigative journalist by profession, and was deeply dedicated to leftist anti-racist politics. A 2010 retrospective article quotes Larsson's friend and fellow journalist Mikael Ekman: "Stieg was a true idealist, a feminist, a believer in freedom. He dedicated his whole life to fighting the right-wing extremists. The biggest thing Stieg did was not the books. It was the work he did for democracy." Three volumes, 9'' x 6'' each. Original red, blue cloth, and green boards, respectively. In original unclipped dust jackets. Translated from the Swedish by Reg Keeland. All volumes show minor shelfwear; touch of toning to edges of page blocks.