Notes
Prelude to Foundation, a Foundation novel by Isaac Asimov.

A prequel to the Foundation series.

The image opposite and the blurb below are from the 1989 Grafton Books paperback edition, ISBN 0586071113. Cover illustration by Tim White.

Publisher’s Blurb – Lower Cover
THE KEY TO THE FUTURE
It is the year 12,020 G.E. and the last Galactic Emperor of the Autun dynasty, Cleon I sits uneasily on the throne. These are troubled times and Cleon I is desperate to find a way to calm them. When young Hari Seldon arrives on Trantor to present a paper on psychohistory, his astounding theory of prediction, the Emperor believes that his future security may rest on Seldon’s prophetic powers. Now Hari is the most wanted man in the Empire as he desperately struggles to keep his remarkable theory from reaching the wrong hands, while forging the key to the future – a power to be known as the Foundation!

PRELUDE TO FOUNDATION
marks the long awaited and eagerly anticipated re-appearance of the Outworld mathematician, Hari Seldon. What happened in the many centuries before the events told of in Asimov’s other Foundation novels – hitherto only hinted at – is now revealed.

'Asimov piques our interest and delights our intellects'
Publishers Weekly

'Readers familiar with previous Foundation books will not be disappointed'
New York Times