Against the Fall of Night (Gnome Press 1st/1st Signed)

New York: Gnome Press, 1953. 1st Edition 1st Printing. Hardcover. Near Fine/Near Fine. 8vo - over 7¾ - 9¾" tall. Gnome first edition first printing. Hardback book is very clean, tight and square. Blue boards clean and sharp. With light rubbing to top and bottom edges at corners. The spine is straight with perfect red titling. The spine ends have light rubbing and are lightly bumped. Text block edges have light toning, there is very light thumb mark that is only noticeable with careful examination. The pastedown and FEPs are unmarked, except for a neat previous booksellers pencil price to the FEP. The pages are crisp and clean, no creasing, spots, or tears. Feels well bound, tight and lightly read. Near Fine condition. Jacket is lovely glossy and bright, with bold colours to panels and spine. The front panel is nice and straight with a 10mm closed tear to the top edge, that is virtually invisible in the archival fitted cover. There is very light rubbing to the foot of spine, which also has a light mark at the publishers name, on magnified inspection this appears to be a print error, maybe ink transference, it does not appear to be a stain or a pen mark. The head of the spine has minor crimping. The rear panel has a 5mm vertical loss to the head of the joint, and a small 2mm rub at the foot. Otherwise the rear panel retains it's whiteness, with some feint marking. Overall a solid near fine copy. Signed, dedicated and dated by author to title page. For grading accuracy books are photographed without a protective book cover. This book is fitted with a non adhesive archival quality book protector to make a quality addition to your collection. Note we do not use stock images, the book pictured is the book described. More images of this book are available please contact us if you require them. A super bright and clean copy of this Gnome Press first edition, Signed directly (not a bookplate or sticker) to the title page in blue biro by Clarke, "To Roger / Arthur C Clarke / 2nd Aug 1986" Comes with great provenance as this volume was obtained from the estate of Roger Earnshaw, SF collector, well known at British conventions and in UK fandom , who often attended author signings. This volume was signed at Forbidden Planet on the date stated at a Clarke signing session for the recently released The Songs of Distant Earth. A superb example of this sought after Gnome edition (just look at that the jacket art!) and will make a great addition to a Clarke collection.