Prelude to Mars
From Author Wars - https://authorwars.com/publications/prelude-to-mars-270911.html
Overview:
- Title: Prelude to Mars
- Author: Arthur C. Clarke
- Year: 1965
- Publisher: Harcourt, Brace & World / SFBC
- Price: $1.90
- Pages: x+497
- Binding: Hardcover
- Type: Omnibus
- Title Reference: Prelude to Space
- Notes:
- The title page includes what may be interpreted as a blurb about the book or a subtitle: Prelude to Mars An Omnibus containing the complete novels PRELUDE TO SPACE and THE SANDS OF MARS and sixteen short stories
- The copyright includes "© 1965 by Arthur C. Clarke" though it's not clear what new material is included in this collection. It may be for the Foreword which is dated December 1964.
- The publication date and printing number are not stated. Gutter code '27G' on page 497 indicates a July 1965 printing date.
- There is no price, ISBN, catalog number, nor SFBC number. "BOOK CLUB EDITION" on the bottom of the front flap.
- The source for the $1.90 price used with this ISFDB publication record is unknown. It's higher than SFBC's price in 1974 but that may reflect that at the time this was a new book with the retail edition published a couple of months earlier at $4.95. Later SFBC printings had the ID #2469 printed on the back flap and were priced $1.69 (as of the SFBC announcement flyer for June 1974 and probably as early as September 1970 based on the ID number.)
- The table of Contents divides the publication into four parts:
- Part I - Prelude to Space
- Part II - On the Light Side (has the first eight short stories)
- Part III - On the Serious Side (has the remaining eight short stories)
- Part IV - The Sands of Mars
- The Foreword on pages 3 to 6 is about Prelude to Space only, not for the omnibus. It ends with "New York, December 1964"
- "Jacket design by Lawrence Ratzkin" on rear flap. The photographer or artist of the cover image is not credited.
- Prior to the 2017-08-22 verification this record had the note "Gutter code '24S' on page 497 indicates a June 1976 printing date." The note is puzzling because by 1976 the SFBC was using catalog numbers meaning this note likely belongs with another of the ISBN publication records.