Bradbury, Ray (1950) ‘The Martian Chronicles’, US signed first edition association copy

Ray Bradbury (1950) ‘The Martian Chronicles‘, US first edition, first printing, published by Doubleday. Signed by Ray Bradbury in his early hand on the ffep: ‘Ray Bradbury / 1st edition / 1950’. Complimentary copy with the publisher’s slip laid in. The publisher’s slip laid-in is signed “Brad.” The signature is that of Walter Bradbury, the author’s publisher, who suggested the episodic structure and the title of the book and steered it successfully into print as the author reported: “The Martian Chronicles was a result of my having dinner with Walter Bradbury, a Doubleday editor, no relative of mine, back in 1949. I was poor, my wife was pregnant, we had no money. I went to New York on a Greyhound bus trying to stir up some interest in my stories, because no one wanted them, they wanted novels. So, at dinner one night, Walter Bradbury said, ‘What about all those Martian stories? Couldn’t they be sewn together into a tapestry and turn it into something called The Martian Chronicles?’ I said, ‘I’ll be damned.'” From the collection of Lawrence Salomon with his bookplate laid in. In custom cloth drop-back case.

Condition: a near fine book in like dust jacket. No previous owner’s inscriptions, no stamps, no bookplates attached. Spine and top of the board margins slightly faded, spine head pushed. The dust jacket is unrestored and a beauty; NOT price clipped showing the $2.50 price as called for, one short tear to top of rear flap, colours bright and spine NOT faded as the vast majority of specimen. A brilliant example.

Provenance: from the Lawrence Salomon collection. This is the only complementary copy we have seen or could locate and as such most probably one of the earliest copies signed by Bradbury. Most copies are signed or inscribed after decades from the date of publication. A rare book, especially with such an exceptional association.