LOT Old Heritage Auctions  /  2007 Apr Books, Manuscripts & Autographs #658  / 

26121

Ray Bradbury: The Martian Chronicles First

Currency:USD Category:Books / Fiction Books Start Price:750.00 USD Estimated At:3,000.00 - 4,000.00 USD
Ray Bradbury: The Martian Chronicles First
<B>Ray Bradbury: <I>The Martian Chronicles</B></I>.</B></I> (Garden City, New York: Doubleday, 1950), first edition, 222 pages, green cloth with crimson lettering on spine, 8vo (5.5" x 8.25"), first state $2.50-priced dust jacket (in protective Mylar). Housed in a banded quarter leather solander box with marbled boards and gilt lettering on the spine. <I>The Martian Chronicles</B></I> cannot be labeled a novel, <I>per se.</B></I> Perhaps a better description is an inter-dependent short story collection; Bradbury himself called <I>The Martian Chronicles</B></I> a "half-cousin to a novel." The stories in this book were previously published in various science fiction periodicals of the 1940s. When it came time to publish them in book form, Bradbury wrote short vignettes between the stories, linking them together in a sort of narrative conga line: each story with its hands on the waist of the one in front of it, but a wholly separate entity, yet all dancing to the same rhythm. The book became a bestseller, and cemented Bradbury's reputation as a force in the science fiction community. A review by the <I>Kansas City Star</B></I> newspaper said that <I>The Martian Chronicles</B></I> "put the romance in space flight…", echoing the sentiments of many astronauts who were first turned on to space, and especially Mars, by this Bradbury classic. The copy presented here is fine, with very minimal wear present, though the spine shows some sunning. The dust jacket is near fine, with minor wear to the top edge, and some sunning present as well. The first edition of <I>The Martian Chronicles</B></I> is extremely rare in this condition. A must-have for any science fiction book collector. <I>From the Ventura 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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