Landmark Books in All Fields
ItemID: #125200
Cost: $9,800.00

Moonfire

Norman Mailer

IMPRESSIVE LARGE FOLIO PHOTO-ILLUSTRATED TASCHEN LIMITED EDITION OF NORMAN MAILER'S MOONFIRE: THE EPIC JOURNEY OF APOLLO 11, BEAUTIFULLY HOUSED IN THE ORIGINAL MOLDED RESIN BOX, ONE OF ONLY 1969 COPIES WITH A PLEXIGLASS-FRAMED SIGNED PHOTOGRAPH OF BUZZ ALDRIN'S MOON LANDING.

(ALDRIN, Buzz) MAILER, Norman. Moonfire. The Epic Journey of Apollo 11. [Cologne]: Taschen, [2009]. Large folio (15 by 18 inches), original photographic cloth, original space-themed windowed and molded resin box. WITH: Plexiglass-framed signed photograph (13 by 16 inches), original cardboard box, original shipping box. $9800.

Exquisite Taschen limited edition of Mailer's triumph of space journalism, number 1450 of 1957 copies (out of a total edition of 1969 copies) lushly illustrated with photographic images and four fold-out plates and wonderfully housed in a molded space-themed white resin box with a Plexiglass window, with an archival-quality photographic print of the moon landing signed by Buzz Aldrin and framed in Plexiglass. This copy additionally signed on the title page by photographer Lawrence Schiller, who developed the idea for this edition.

In 1969, Norman Mailer was commissioned to cover the Apollo 11 moon landing for Life magazine in a long-form piece spanning three issues—the longest nonfiction piece Life had ever published to that point. "Mailer’s ability to breathe life into even the more humdrum elements of this vast enterprise—to turn even its smallest niches into cathedrals of meaning—thoroughly vindicated Life magazine’s decision to commission the story at 115,000 words. Through a literary, lengthy mode of reporting—speaking to astronauts, businessmen, wives, engineers, the lot—he captured the truth of Apollo 11 in a way that went well beyond historical fact. A new book by Taschen, Moonfire, presents hundreds of archive photos of the mission alongside Mailer’s piece [excerpted from his later Of a Fire on the Moon (1971), based on the Life articles], drawing out resonances that the images would lack in isolation, and recreating the timbre of the age in which they were first consumed. You’ll find NASA maps and photographs, magazine shoots, private snapshots, all collectively telling the story of Apollo 11 from its germ to its jubilant conclusion" (GQ). This edition features an introduction by acclaimed Irish author Colum McCann. With original staple-bound large folio prospectus. This limited edition of 1969 copies included both 1957 copies of this edition and a special 12-copy edition accompanied by a lunar rock. Limitation page signed by a second signatory at the same time Lawrence Schiller signed; that person cannot be identified at this time. Postcard from the Annual Norman Mailer Center Benefit Gala (2010) laid in.

A few small scratches to prospectus cover. Fine condition.

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