The Story of the Amulet was published by T. Fisher Unwin in 1906, with illustrations by H.R. Millar. The novel concludes the Psammead trilogy: the children rediscover their old friend the sand fairy in a London pet shop, and he directs them to a broken Egyptian amulet that can transport them through time. They must find the other half of the amulet in the past, and their search takes them to ancient Egypt, Babylon (where they meet the Queen of Babylon, who later visits Edwardian London with spectacular results), Phoenician tin traders in pre-Roman Britain, Atlantis before its destruction, and — most remarkably — a utopian future London.
The historical sections draw on genuine scholarship. Nesbit was friends with E.A. Wallis Budge, Keeper of Egyptian Antiquities at the British Museum, and her depictions of ancient Egypt and Babylon reflect real archaeological knowledge rather than fantasy. The children visit periods that are rendered with specificity and texture — the crowded markets, the temple ceremonies, the slave labor, the daily life of ancient civilizations.
The future London chapter is one of Nesbit’s most radical passages. She was a founding member of the Fabian Society, and her utopian London embodies socialist ideals: poverty has been abolished, everyone has access to education and beauty, the city is clean and green, and people work because they want to rather than because they must. This is political imagination smuggled into a children’s adventure story with typical Nesbit audacity.
Collecting The Story of the Amulet
First edition (T. Fisher Unwin, London, 1906): Cloth binding, H.R. Millar illustrations.
Market values:
- First edition, fine: $400–$1,000
- Very good: $150–$400
- Good: $50–$150