THE MOON IS A HARSH MISTRESS - SIGNED & INSCRIBED by Heinlein, Robert A - 1966

New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1966. Third Printing. Octavo; terracotta cloth, with titles stamped in gilt on spine and author's initials in gilt on lower front panel; dustjacket; 383pp, [1]. Signed by Heinlein on the title page, and inscribed by him on the front endpaper: "To Al Lewis - Warmest good wishes, Bob. 1 Oct. 67." Hint of a forward lean, with slight oxidation to spine gilt and a tiny stain to right edge of front endpaper; Near Fine. Dustjacket is unclipped (priced $5.95), with a few pinpoint rubs to spine ends, light rubbing to author's portrait on rear panel, and six small pieces of clear tape on verso; Near Fine. Widely considered Heinlein's finest novel, 'The Moon is a Harsh Mistress' earned Heinlein his fourth and final Hugo Award in 1967. First issued as a five part serial in Worlds of If magazine, the novel tells the story of a sentient computer that helps a group of rebels overthrow the authorities on a Moon colony. This copy inscribed to Al Lewis, an active and long-time member of the Los Angeles Science Fiction Society (formerly Los Angeles Science Fiction League), which Heinlein joined in the spring of 1939, shortly after he began writing (see William H. Patterson, Jr's. ROBERT A. HEINLEIN: IN DIALOGUE WITH HIS CENTURY, Vol.1, p.238). The inscription is dated just over a month after Heinlein was awarded his fourth Hugo Award. Signed/inscribed copies of Moon are genuinely rare; the only inscribed copy in the auction record sold 24 years ago (Sotheby's, 1991), and the only signed copy we know of was offered by a colleague in 2002. Owings p.12.