Moore, Patrick (1970) ‘Space’, signed and inscribed by Wernher von Braun

Patrick Moore (1970) ‘Space’, UK third edition, published by Lutterworth Press. Signed and inscribed by Wernher von Braun on the half-title page: “To Frank Mondelli | With Warmest Regards | Wernher von Braun”. The recipient was Francesco Mondelli, maitre d’ Savoy Hotel. This book was inscribed for his son by the great pioneer of space exploration during a dinner given there in his honour by the Institution of Electronic and Radio Engineers on 21 March 1974. As provenance we include the original dinner card which is loosely laid in.

Condition: In very good condition. Internally clean with no other inscriptions apart from von Braun’s, no bookplates, no stamps. The tips of the spine have pushes and wear as shown. The boards are clean. There is no dust jacket.

The value of this item lies in von Braun’s beautiful inscription. Several pages inside are dedicated to the pioneers of rocketry including Wernher von Braun with colour photographs. This means that it is not just a random book but thematically appropriate. Patrick Moore is well know in the UK. The amateur astronomer has contributed to the field by compiling the Caldwell Catalogue (Caldwell being Patrick Moore’s second name), a catalogue of noteworthy deep-sky objects which are not part of the Messier Catalogue and observable by the amateur astronomer with standard telescopes. Moore also presented the astronomy show The Sky at Night for the BBC for over five decades.