Mars And the Mind of Man

(1973). Stated first edition. Quarto red cloth lettered in gilt. Illustrated with full-page b/w photographs of Mars. This copy with a “Compliments of the Author” card laid in, INSCRIBED BY CLARKE to Frederick C. Durant, III, the former Assistant Director for Astronautics of the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum and one of the world’s foremost authorities of spaceflight and rocketry, and his wife, Pip, Clarke’s best friends in America. Durant’s small ownership label is on the front pastedown. The “Compliments of the author” card is from Harcourt, Brace ,Jovanovich, with their logo. They were the publishers of several of Clarke’s early works. Apparently, Harper’s was too cheap to provide “compliments” cards. A fine copy in a fine dust jacket.