Bonestell Question

[Tom Hering]

Does anyone know which book (circa 1950?) this Chesley Bonestell painting of a Martian canal first appeared in? I've searched several sites for information about it, including the official Bonestell site, but no luck.

 

[Zendexor]

Does anyone know which book (circa 1950?) this Chesley Bonestell painting of a Martian canal first appeared in? I've searched several sites for information about it, including the official Bonestell site, but no luck.

In my issue of Sky and Telescope, July 2005, page 48, the picture is said to have been published in The Conquest of Space by Bonestell and Willy Ley. The caption says the picture was painted in 1949; it doesn't make clear whether the book was published the same year.

 

[Tom Hering]

In my issue of Sky and Telescope, July 2005, page 48, the picture is said to have been published in The Conquest of Space by Bonestell and Willy Ley. The caption says the picture was painted in 1949; it doesn't make clear whether the book was published the same year.

I found a French site yesterday that discussed The Conquest, and showed the canal painting, but there was no citation. Your research, on the other hand, has turned up something definite. Thank you! I'm off to ebay now to find a copy of the book. I've always remembered the impact the canal painting had on me as a 10-year-old boy, in 1964. So The Conquest is one of three books that started my interest in space and science fiction that year. The other two were The Complete Book of Space Travel, illustrated by Virgil Finlay, and The Star Beast by Heinlein. Not that I had any idea who Heinlein was back then. I just thought the dust jacket and title page art of the original Scribner's edition was cool.

Oh, and then too there was the Space Angel cartoon series of 1962-1964. Designed by Alex Toth.

And DC's Mystery In Space and Tales of the Unexpected, featuring Adam Strange and Space Ranger, respectively. Plus Gold Key's Magnus, Robot Fighter, 4000 A.D. And Topps' Mars Attacks! cards. And of course, The Twilight Zone and The Outer Limits.

What a year.

 

[Zendexor]

I found a French site yesterday that discussed The Conquest, and showed the canal painting, but there was no citation. Your research, on the other hand, has turned up something definite. Thank you! I'm off to ebay now to find a copy of the book. I've always remembered the impact the canal painting had on me as a 10-year-old boy, in 1964. So The Conquest is one of three books that started my interest in space and science fiction that year. The other two were The Complete Book of Space Travel, illustrated by Virgil Finlay, and The Star Beast by Heinlein. Not that I had any idea who Heinlein was back then. I just thought the dust jacket and title page art of the original Scribner's edition was cool.

Oh, and then too there was the Space Angel cartoon series of 1962-1964. Designed by Alex Toth.

And DC's Mystery In Space and Tales of the Unexpected, featuring Adam Strange and Space Ranger, respectively. Plus Gold Key's Magnus, Robot Fighter, 4000 A.D. And Topps' Mars Attacks! cards. And of course, The Twilight Zone and The Outer Limits.

What a year.

I likewise was 10 years old in 1964. The canal picture would doubtless have wowed me equally influentially if I had known of it then. My biggest impressions were of artists' renditions of the Twilight Belt of Mercury - sadly since disproved.

 

[tinkerdan]

Here is a link to the index:
http://collectspace.com/resources/spaceart_bonestellcolordex.html
::It should answer your question if you know the name of the painting.

 

[Tom Hering]

Here is a link to the index:
http://collectspace.com/resources/spaceart_bonestellcolordex.html
::It should answer your question if you know the name of the painting.

Thank you. The index lists a couple of Martian landscape paintings that can be found in The Conquest, but it doesn't show them, or link to an image of them.

 

[tinkerdan]

I would favor this one::
Martian landscape, eroded mountains in distance
::but you are correct it does seem ambiguous.
Still one was printed first in 1946 the other 1947 and the group were 1949 so you might be justified in dating it around that period between 1944 and 1949 and no later.
On one website someone called it Alien Landscape(but I doubt that's valid.)
Alien... why that's clearly Mars nothin' alien about that.
anyway:
of 58; 43 were declared previously shown in other publications that means there are 15 unaccounted for and that could be one.
The good news is that if you want to take the risk you might still be able to get a copy of the book for around 80 to 90 US dollars.
That's not a guarantee it will help.

 

[tinkerdan]

This italian site::
http://www.fabiofeminofantascience.org/marte/martians2.html

::Calls it
MARTIAN LANDSCAPES (With Channels) ACCORDING To CHESLEY BONESTELL Bonestell Space Art

This gentleman in printerest::
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/154600199678988149/
::Sites the source as
The Conquest of Space

 

[Tom Hering]

The good news is that if you want to take the risk you might still be able to get a copy of the book for around 80 to 90 US dollars.

Thanks again tinkerdan. Buy-it-now copies are currently priced on ebay at $40-50. Completed listings show they've recently gone for $15-35. One even went for $3! You just have to be patient, and wait for the right copy at the right price, if you're using the buy-it-now feature. If it's a straightforward auction, never bid early. It just creates bidding fever in your competitors and/or causes them to raise their maximum bid.

 

[Ray McCarthy]

Or else maybe bid first?

 

[Tom Hering]

Or else maybe bid first?

I'm not sure how that would help me. I suppose it might dissuade some people from bidding at all. But it won't dissuade someone who really wants to win, and has the money to win at all costs. I've seen that happen too many times, with the item going for a price that's just ridiculous - two or three times what it would have cost the winner if he or she had checked another source (Amazon third party, AbeBooks, etc.) No, I've been using ebay since the '90s, and my advice is still, "Don't bid first and don't bid early. Decide on your maximum before you bid and stick to it. Be willing to let an item go if the bidding gets too high. Sooner or later, another one will show up that you can win for a low price. Maybe even a ridiculously low price." I just won against two bidders by waiting until the last minute to bid. A set of the original SFBC Science Fiction Hall of Fame volumes 2A and 2B, in excellent condition for $6.50, plus $4.13 shipping. Okay, I know that some people object to "sniping." But it's within the rules. I was willing to be there at the auction's end, and they weren't; I was willing to pay more than they were (I obviously topped their automatic maximum bids). And the seller benefited.