Arthur C. Clarke

Title: Childhood’s End

Published in 1953 by Ballantine Books, New York.

This is an incredibly unusual signed first edition of Childhood’s End, one of Arthur C. Clarke’s most famous books. It is lacking the dust wrapper but it makes up for this by being signed and inscribed by Clarke to the actress Yvonne de Carlo.(Perhaps now most remembered for her role as Lily in The Munsters)

To Yvonne de Carlo in return for some memorable moments in ‘Hotel Sahara’ 

Hotel Sahara was a 1951 film starring de Carlo and I wonder if this book, was the reason they ultimately met in person in 1954. Or whether he gifted her the book after meeting her. The mysteries of time. Also de Carlo was working on a sci-fi screenplay, ‘ The Green Planet Sram‘ with Sram being Mars backwards. A 7-page treatment for the film, has appeared in recent years suggesting that it was written by Clarke in tandem with de Carlo. Clarke was keen to get the idea of space travel as a viable option for the future into the public domain. Who knows the reality but it all creates an interesting story surrounding this book and what it may actually have meant to Clarke and de Carlo.

Condition is fair and the inscribed page is time-stained but unaffecting the writing.