The Great Gnome Press Science Fiction Odyssey

Introduction & Development of the Spaceship

As the first installment of what will be a fortnightly feature, here is the intro and first chapter from the Gnome Press title The Complete Book of Outer Space. I normally review each book but a review wouldn’t really do this justice, and I want to do something different. It’s a very interesting book. First published in magazine form and edited by Jeffrey Logan for Maco Publications, Gnome Press released it in hardcover in 1953.  It’s a kind of an extrapolation of where the technology of space will take us in the coming years – from the perspective of 1953 of course.  From a contemporary viewpoint, it’s a fascinating glimpse back in time to when people were starry-eyed about the heavens and it all seemed just around the corner.  It’s also very quaint.

Many of the articles were written by the top experts of the times, and are enhanced by some cool photos and imaginative artwork.  So, take your time and enjoy in the upcoming months the occasional journey back in time for a glimpse at an alternate future.

You can see in the credits in the intro the copyright notice for Maco Magazines.  Gnome Press have apparently printed this directly from the magazine.

Next installment on Friday 17th April will be Station in Space by Dr Wernher von Braun, then Technical Director of the Guided Missile Development Group at the Redstone Arsenal.

This entry was posted on April 3, 2009 at 9:49 am and is filed under 01 - Development of the Spaceship, 1953, The Complete Book of Outer Space with tags 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.