Starting to collect vintage space books again, after a 25 year hiatus meant that I needed to be careful about what I was buying. Most of the recent acquisitions come from second hand retailers online, who sell books which would otherwise be headed for the landfill. Occasionally, I will buy a particular volume from specialised dealers, but usually I will just browse one of the second hand sites, or buy from ebay.
The problem with buying online is that its not always possible to see inside the book, or check the condition. Most of the second hand dealers give a condition guide, but quality can vary tremendously. The other issue is with editions. A particular edition may be advertised, but a later or earlier edition may arrive in the mail.
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| Original Edition |
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| Original Edition |
I had this problem recently with two books from Patrick Moore, which again I had seen in the library as a teenager. Both books had subsequently been updated and I wanted to get all four copies of the books, with decent quality dustjackets. I found what I assumed were two copies of one of the books, 'Challenge of the Stars' on World of Books, for a very reasonable price, so I bought both. The problem was, WOB deals online, but also via ebay and as I bought one book from each vendor, there clearly wasn't any communication by the company about my order and instead of receiving a first and second edition as advertised, I got two first editions instead.
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| Updated Edition |
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| Updated Edition |
The other companion book in the series 'Moon Flight Atlas' caused similar issues, as I ordered a copy assuming it would arrive with dustjacket as pictured, but it came without one! the company were very good about the mixup and recently have undergone a rebranding and the level of service has improved dramatically, with free two day shipping included.
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| Spread from Challenge |
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| Spreads from Moon Flight Atlas |
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| Space Stations |
The other downside to buying blind is that sometimes a book may look great - but as the saying goes, never judge it by the cover!
A case in point was 'Rockets and Missiles' 1971 by David Mondey. A large hardback book, it looked to have good graphics and a decent publisher in Hamlyn, so I bought it on ebay for a few pounds.
Unfortunately, when it arrived, it turned out to be a larger formst version of the same book in pocket size, by John W. R Taylor the previous year.
I'd had the smaller one from 1970 and read it to destruction, the small perfect bound format suffered from spine cracking and the pages of my original copy had begun to fall out. This one is a recent replacement. However, the large format 1971 edition makes it easier to reproduce the pages, especially when they include such interesting and rare space vehicles.
The Hamlyn pocketbooks are an excellent series, I have the Prehistoric Animals and Undersea Exploration volumes, as well as Exploring the Planets.
Many of the illustrations in these books seem to have appeared else where, so have either been copied from the same source, or copied themselves. The Hyperion rocket, from Rockets and Missiles appears to be the reference for this striking illustration for the Arthur C. Clarke serial in Speed and Power magazine by Michael Whittlesea.
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| Ice Cave at South Pole |
In Challenge of the Stars, David Hardy has clearly referenced a photograph from one of Scotts Antarctic missions of an ice crevasse, for his image of Pluto.
Similarly, the probe shown in the 'Grand Tour' chapter in Challenge is very similar to the one which appeared in the Brooke Bond Tea Card series 'Race into Space'. The grand Tour project was initially scaled back and re-aligned as the two Voyager missions.
Whether both images are based on an existing design, is unknown, but the Brooke Bond Cards and the Hardy books were published the same year.
The Space Station featured in the Moon Flight Atlas spread also appears in the Race into Space card series too, but this is definitely based on a NASA concept.
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Boeing Space Station Concept
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| Brooke Bond tea cards |
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