"A SENTIMENTAL FAVORITE AMONG ASIMOV'S FANS": INSCRIBED BY ASIMOV, HIS FIRST PUBLISHED NOVEL

ASIMOV, Isaac. Pebble in the Sky. Garden City: Doubleday & Company, 1950. Octavo, original beige cloth, original dust jacket. $7500.

First edition of Asimov's first novel, a pivotal link to the Foundation series, inscribed "For Dirce Archer with best wishes, Isaac Asimov."

"In 1947, at the time Asimov was writing the first draft of what would later turn into Pebble in the Sky, there were very few full-length science fiction books… Pebble in the Sky was published on January 19, 1950. It received a number of reviews, most of which were favorable, and it began to sell well from day one" (White, Asimov: The Unauthorized Life, pp. 120-8). "Loosely connected with the Foundation series, but the true sociohistorical metaphor in the story is that of ancient Judea facing the might of Rome. A sentimental favorite among Asimov's fans, but significant also as a transitional step between the relatively miserly world of Golden Age pulps and the relatively lucrative world of mainstream book publication" (Anatomy of Wonder II-51). Currey, 14. Recipient Dirce Archer was well-known science fiction fan in the 1950s and 1960s; he chaired the 1960 World Science Fiction Convention (the organization that awards the Hugo).

Book fine, dust jacket bright and near-fine with very minor edge-wear and a bit of rubbing along front flap fold.