CLARKE, Arthur C.

2010: Odyssey Two

First edition. Fine in very near fine dustwrapper in original slipcase (see below for slipcase condition). One of 650 numbered copies Signed by the author, this copy unnumbered. Additionally Inscribed by Arthur C. Clarke to his protege, one-time secretary, and longtime friend Ian Macauley; "For Ian, to cheer you up on your 50th birthday (lucky guy!) and to prove that I've not forgotten Atlanta in '52 -Affectionately, Arthur. 4 Ap '89." Clarke sent the book to Macauley from Sri Lanka, using the novel method of pasting wrapping paper over the slipcase and addressing it to Macauley, with predictable results -- the addressed paper is still attached and one end of the slipcase has been cut away, apparently when the package was opened. Macauley was the dedicatee of Clarke's first published hardcover novel, Islands in the Sky (1952), and was an award-winning New York Times journalist. He also edited Clarke's book of collected essays, Greetings, Carbon-Based Bipeds! (2000). A nice association copy of this novel. Apparently the reference to 1952 in the inscription refers to Clarke's 1952 visit to Macauley in Atlanta, where he wrote the last chapter of Childhood's End, reportedly after discussions with Macauley. Basis for the 1984 film, written and directed by Peter Hyams, and featuring Roy Scheider, John Lithgow, Helen Mirren, Bob Balaban, and Keir Dullea (reprising his role from Stanley Kubrick's classic 2001: A Space Odyssey. During the planning of the Hugo Award-winning film Clarke, a long-time resident of Sri Lanka, collaborated with Hymans remotely via a specially set-up early version of email (a correspondence which was edited into its own book, The Odyssey File).

[BTC #305918]