The Great Gnome Press Science Fiction Odyssey

A very different book from the usual Gnome Press fare, but more detail on the content in the review sometime.  Physically different too.  As I indicated in the previous post, GP books are usually about a Demy Octavo size.  This book is the larger Crown Octavo.  Thank you for Wikipedia for this information.   At about 10×6 inches and 144 pages this is much taller and thinner than the other books in my library.  I knew the book was a little ragged around the edges when I bought it.  But it is quite a rare book and the content lends itself to more wear and tear than usual.  Lets have a look.

Nice, classic illustration on the cover.  Remember, this was intended to be a serious book with a little speculation thrown in.  These were the visions of spaceflight at that time.  You can probably see a little wear at the corners and a nasty chunk off at the top right.  More on that later.

The boards look good.  Clean, but with some  small dings at the ends of the spine.  Also one corner has had a noticeable bump.

Both the top and bottom of the book look ok.

A closer inspection of the ends of the spine shows a little damage, but not much.

However, the dust jacket is damaged as you can see.  Chipping, wear and closed tears.

The book is heavily illustrated with drawings, diagrams and photographs.  Check some of them out:

When I saw this book online, I noticed that the top right corner was damaged.  When I unwrapped the book this sizable chunk fell off:

Oh well, never mind.  I wish people would keep books in protective jackets.  I’ve put one on as you can see.  The table of contents is listed on the back.  Some stellar names from spacefilght and rocket history there.  The edges of the dust jacket are quite obviously worn.

Year: 1953
Paid: $36
Art: Chesley Bonnestell
Quantity: 3000 copies.
Binding: Yellow boards with red lettering on spine.
GP Edition Notes: 1st hardbound edition.  Previously published in magazine form by Maco Magazine Corp.
Comments: The jacket is a bit rough but another nice addition to my Gnome Press library.
Expand Upon: wikipedia.com, Internet Speculative Fiction Database

This entry was posted on March 10, 2009 at 9:49 am and is filed under 1953, Close Up with tags Chesley Bonnestell, Jeffrey Logan, The Complete Book of Outer Space. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.