Story & Significance
The Deep Range was Arthur C. Clarke’s departure from the cosmos he’d made his territory. Published by Harcourt, Brace and Company in 1957, it follows Walter Franklin, a former astronaut whose career ends after a harrowing isolation incident in orbit leaves him with severe acrophobia. Grounded permanently, he turns to the one frontier that remains: the ocean. The novel traces his career in the Marine Division, from trainee sub pilot to whale warden to director of the Bureau of Whales, set against Clarke’s vision of a 21st century in which the sea has become as essential to human survival as any continent.
Clarke brought the same meticulous technical imagination to deep-sea exploration that he applied to orbital mechanics, and the result is a novel that reads as plausible world-building rather than fantasy. It was expanded from a short story Clarke wrote in 1953 and remains one of the more quietly affecting books of his career. The jacket art is by Edgar Parker.
Physical Description
Publisher: Harcourt, Brace and Company, New York, 1957. First edition so stated on copyright page (Science Fiction and Fantasy Authors, L.W. Currey, p. 91). Binding is green faux-marbled boards with silver spine lettering. The boards show minor bumping and shelfwear.
The dust jacket is price-clipped and in Good condition, with rubbing and creasing to the extremities. The text block shows dust staining, soiling, and light foxing. The bottom edge of the text block carries very minor staining, consistent in appearance with ink. Minor toning to the pages throughout. Light foxing is present on the pastedowns and front and rear free endpapers. The pages are otherwise intact.
Collector’s Note
The Deep Range is among the more accessible Clarke first editions on the market, but copies in genuinely good condition with an intact jacket are less common than the title’s relative familiarity might suggest. This copy is honestly graded Good/Good. The text block soiling, foxing, page toning, and ink staining to the bottom edge are all disclosed above and documented in the listing photographs. The binding is tight and the boards retain their structure. A reading copy in the first edition for the Clarke collector who wants the title on the shelf without paying a premium for condition.
Story & Significance
The Deep Range was Arthur C. Clarke’s departure from the cosmos he’d made his territory. Published by Harcourt, Brace and Company in 1957, it follows Walter Franklin, a former astronaut whose career ends after a harrowing isolation incident in orbit leaves him with severe acrophobia. Grounded permanently, he turns to the one frontier that remains: the ocean. The novel traces his career in the Marine Division, from trainee sub pilot to whale warden to director of the Bureau of Whales, set against Clarke’s vision of a 21st century in which the sea has become as essential to human survival as any continent.
Clarke brought the same meticulous technical imagination to deep-sea exploration that he applied to orbital mechanics, and the result is a novel that reads as plausible world-building rather than fantasy. It was expanded from a short story Clarke wrote in 1953 and remains one of the more quietly affecting books of his career. The jacket art is by Edgar Parker.
Physical Description
Publisher: Harcourt, Brace and Company, New York, 1957. First edition so stated on copyright page (Science Fiction and Fantasy Authors, L.W. Currey, p. 91). Binding is green faux-marbled boards with silver spine lettering. The boards show minor bumping and shelfwear.
The dust jacket is price-clipped and in Good condition, with rubbing and creasing to the extremities. The text block shows dust staining, soiling, and light foxing. The bottom edge of the text block carries very minor staining, consistent in appearance with ink. Minor toning to the pages throughout. Light foxing is present on the pastedowns and front and rear free endpapers. The pages are otherwise intact.
Collector’s Note
The Deep Range is among the more accessible Clarke first editions on the market, but copies in genuinely good condition with an intact jacket are less common than the title’s relative familiarity might suggest. This copy is honestly graded Good/Good. The text block soiling, foxing, page toning, and ink staining to the bottom edge are all disclosed above and documented in the listing photographs. The binding is tight and the boards retain their structure. A reading copy in the first edition for the Clarke collector who wants the title on the shelf without paying a premium for condition.
Image 1 of 10
Image 2 of 10
Image 3 of 10
Image 4 of 10
Image 5 of 10
Image 6 of 10
Image 7 of 10
Image 8 of 10
Image 9 of 10
Image 10 of 10
