LOT Old Heritage Auctions  /  2008 Feb Grand Format Book & Manuscript #682  / 

56950

E.E. Smith Skylark Space Mimeograph Typescript

Currency:USD Category:Books / Antiquarian & Collectible Start Price:5,750.00 USD Estimated At:12,000.00 - 15,000.00 USD
E.E. Smith Skylark Space Mimeograph Typescript
<B>E. E. "Doc" Smith. </B></I><B><I>The Skylark of Space.</B></I></B></I> [N.p.: n.d.]. <BR>Mimeograph typescript with holograph corrections in red and blue ink and in pencil. Large quarto (11 x 8.5 inches). Title-page and 244 numbered pages. Double-spaced on rectos only. Pages 1-141 are on white paper (slightly browned) and pages 142-244 are on yellow paper. The title-page has a mimeographed copyright statement: "COPYRIGHTS/1928: Experimenter Publishing Company./1946: Edward E. Smith, Ph.D./1947: Edward E. Smith, Ph.D./1950: Edward E. Smith, Ph.D." Above the copyright statement is typed: "The Skylark of Space. Completely revised by Edward E. Smith, Ph.D."<BR><BR>Title-page slightly browned and edgeworn, with a small piece torn from the upper right corner. Verso of page 244 browned, with some edgewear, including a tiny tear to the outer margin. Small faint dampstain to lower edge of title-page and pages 1-27. Title-page and pages 1-31 faintly creased in the middle where they were once folded. Small puncture mark visible, beginning on page 8 and continuing through page 31, sometimes affecting a couple of letters in the last line on the page. Slight crease to lower portion of pages 240-244. An excellent example. Chemised in a burgundy cloth clamshell case with black leather spine label decoratively stamped and lettered in gilt.<BR><BR>Smith's novel <I>The Skylark of Space</B></I> opened his "Skylark" space opera series. It was first published serially in <I>Amazing Stories,</B></I> August-October 1928. The first book edition was published by The Buffalo Book Co., Providence, Rhode Island, in 1946. A revised edition was published by Pyramid Books, New York, in 1958. This revised mimeograph typescript was possibly made for the 1958 edition.<BR><BR>"The work that first established and popularized space opera was unquestionably Smith's <I>The Skylark of Space</B></I> (1928). He began the story in 1915, collaborating with a friend's wife, Lee Hawkins Garby, recruited to handle the romantic elements and originally credited as co-author; yet her contributions were minimal, and Smith eventually finished the novel by himself, perhaps anticipating that his readers would not demand sensitive portrayals of men and women in love. After numerous rejections, Smith's story found a home in the sf magazine <I>Amazing Stories,</B></I> where it was met with tremendous enthusiasm" (<I>The Cambridge Companion to Science Fiction</B></I>, pp. 198-199). <I>From the Robert and Diane Yaspan Collection.</B></I><BR><BR><b>Shipping:</b> Books & Catalogs (<a target="_blank" href="http://www.heritageauctions.com/common/shipping.php">view shipping information</a>)
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