McCaffrey, Anne. THE SHIP WHO SANG. New York, NY: Walker and Co., 1969. 1st edition. With “published by in the United States of America in 1969 by the Walker Publishing Company, Inc., by arrangement with Ballantine Books, Inc.” printed on the copyright page, which indicates that this is the correct 1st edition, 1st printing. This is NOT a book club book. This is NOT an ex-library book.
Buyer beware: There were no later printings of THE SHIP WHO SANG that were published in this hardcover format. This is the real deal: the correct 1st edition, 1st printing of this book.
SCROLL DOWN THIS PAGE IMMEDIATELY TO SEE THE CONDITION OF THIS BOOK AND THIS DUST JACKET.
Anne McCaffery was born in 1926 in Cambridge, Massachusetts and she died in 2011 at her home in Ireland. She attended Stuart Hall (a girls’ boarding school) in Staunton, Virginia and graduated from Montclair High School in Montclair, New Jersey. In 1947 she graduated cum laude from Radcliffe College with a degree in Slavonic languages and Literature. McCaffrey had two short stories published in the 1950’s. The first, “Freedom of the Race,” won a $100 prize in Science-Fiction Plus . . . McCaffrey was a frequent participant in the famous Milford Writer’s Workshop. After the first of those visits, she wrote her famous story, “The Ship Who Sang,” which became part of her famous “Brain and Brawn Ship” series. Her first novel, RESTOREE, was published in 1967. The first Pern story, “Weyr Search,” was published in 1967 by John W. Campbell in Analog Science Fiction and Fact. It won the 1968 Hugo Award for best novella, voted by participants in the annual World Science Fiction Convention. The second Pern story, “Dragonrider,” won the 1969 Nebula Award for best novella, voted annually by the Science Fiction Writers of America. Thus she was the first woman to win a Hugo Award for fiction and the first woman to win a Nebula Award. Anne McCaffrey was the author of such great and famous books and series as RESTOREE, the “Dragonriders of Pern” books and stories (including DRAGONFLIGHT DRAGONQUEST, and THE WHITE DRAGON), the “Brain and Brawn Ship” series (including THE SHIP WHO SANG [offered here]), the “Crystal” series (including CRYSTAL SINGER), the “Coelura” series, the “Baroque Cat” series, the “Talent” books (including TO RIDE PEGASUS), The “Doona” books (including DECISION AT DOONA), the “Acorna” books (including ACORNA: UNICORN GIRL), and many, many others.
Some of the awards and award nominations that Anne McCaffrey has been honored with:
1967: “Weyr Search.” (“Weyr Search” is the 1st part of DRAGONFLIGHT). Hugo Award co-winner for Best Novella. 1967: “Weyr Search.” (“Weyr Search” is the 1st part of DRAGONFLIGHT). Nebula Award nominee for Best Novella. 1968: “Dragonrider.” (“Dragonrider” is the 2nd part of DRAGONFLIGHT). Hugo Award nominee for Best Novella. 1968: “Dragonrider.” (“Dragonrider” is the 2nd part of DRAGONFLIGHT). Nebula Award winner for Best Novella. 1969: “Dramatic Mission.” Hugo Award nominee for Best Novella. “Dramatic Mission” makes up a large portion of THE SHIP WHO SANG 1969: “Dramatic Mission.” Nebula Award nominee for Best Novella. “Dramatic Mission: makes up a large portion of THE SHIP WHO SANG. 1970: ALCHEMY AND ACADEME. (edited by Anne McCaffrey). Locus Award nominee for Best Anthology/Collection. 1970: ALCHEMY AND ACADEME. (edited by Anne McCaffrey). Balrog Award nominee for Best Collection/Anthology. 1971: DRAGONQUEST. Hugo Award nominee for Best Novel. 1971: DRAGONQUEST. Locus Award nominee for Best Novel. 1975: Anne McCaffrey is honored as the Skylark Award winner for 1975. 1976: DRAGONSONG. Locus Award nominee for Best Novel. 1977: DRAGONSINGER. Locus Award nominee for Best Science Fiction Novel. 1978: THE WHITE DRAGON. Hugo Award nominee for Best Novel. 1978: THE WHITE DRAGON. Locus Award 3rd-place winner for Best Novel. 1978: THE WHITE DRAGON. Ditmar Award winner for Best International Fiction. 1978: THE WHITE DRAGON. Balrog Award nominee for Best Novel. 1978: THE WHITE DRAGON. Gandalf Award winner for Best Book- Length Fantasy. 1979: Anne McCaffrey is honored by being named a Balrog Award winner for Professional Achievement. 1979: Anne McCaffrey is honored as a Gandalf Award nominee for being a Grand Master of Fantasy. 1979: DRAGONDRUMS. Locus Award nominee for Best Science Fiction Novel. 1979: DRAGONDRUMS. Ditmar Award nominee for Best International Fiction. 1979: DRAGONDRUMS. Balrog Award winner for Best Novel. 1982: THE CRYSTAL SINGER. Locus Award nominee for Best Science Fiction Novel. 1982: THE CRYSTAL SINGER. Balrog Award nominee for Best Novel. 1983: MORETA: DRAGONLADY OF PERN. Hugo Award nominee for Best Novel. 1983: MORETA: DRAGONLADY OF PERN. Locus Award nominee for Best Science Fiction Novel. 1986: NERILKA’S STORY. Locus Award nominee for Best Science Fiction Novel. 1988: DRAGONSDAWN. John W. Campbell Memorial Award 3rd-place winner for Best Novel. 1988: DRAGOSNDAWN. Locus Award nominee for Best Science Fiction Novel. 1989: THE RENEGADES OF PERN. Locus Award nominee for Best Science Fiction Novel. 1990: PEGASUS IN FLIGHT. Locus Award nominee for Best Science Fiction Novel. 1990: THE ROWAN. Locus Award nominee for Best Science Fiction Novel. 1991: ALL THE WEYRS OF PERN. Hugo Award nominee for Best Novel. 1991: ALL THE WEYRS OF PERN. Locus Award nominee for Best Science Fiction Novel. 1991: ALL THE WEYRS OF PERN. HOMer Award co-winner for Best Science Fiction Novel. 1991: ALL THE WEYRS OF PERN. 2002 Seiun Award nominee for Best Translated Novel. 1991: “Rescue Run.” AnLab Award nominee for Best Novela/Novelette. 1992: CRYSTAL LINE. Locus Award nominee for Best Science Fiction Novel. 1992: THE SHIP WHO SEARCHED. (co-written with Mercedes Lackey). Locus Award nominee for Best Science Fiction Novel. 1993: THE CHRONICLES OF PERN: FIRST FALL. Locus Award nominee for Best Collection. 1993: THE POWERS THAT BE. (co-written with Elizabeth Ann Scarborough). Locus Award nominee for Best Science Fiction Novel. 1994: THE DOLPHINS OF PERN. Locus Award nominee for Best Science Fiction Novel. 1994: THE DOLPHINS OF PERN. HOMer Award nominee for Best Novel. 1994: THE GIRL WHO HEARD DRAGONS. Locus Award nominee for Best Collection. 1997: MASTERHARPER OF PERN. HOMer Award nominee for Best Novel. 1999: Anne McCaffrey is honored by being named a British Fantasy Karl Edward Wagner Award winner for lifetime achievement. 1999: Anne McCaffrey is honored by being named a Margaret A. Edwards Award (given by the American Library Association) for Lifetime Achievement in Writing for Teens. 2004: Anne McCaffrey is honored by being named a Hubbard Award winner for Lifetime Achievement. 2004: Anne McCaffrey is honored by being named a Science Fiction Writers of American Grand Master Award Winner. 2005: Anne McCaffrey is honored by being named a Science Fiction Hall of Fame Living Inductee. 2006: Anne McCaffrey is honored by being named a Robert A. Heinlein Award winner for Lifetime Achievement.
Clearly, Anne McCaffrey was (and remains) one of the best, most famous, most important, and most collectible science fiction writers of all time.
From the dust jacket: “ . . . The Ship Who Sang . . . by Anne McCaffrey . . . She was more than just a brain enclosed in metal, trained to perform the funcitions of a computer with that extra spark of creative flexibility unique to humanity. But she was also less than human, or at least less than fully adult. Brilliant, resourceful beyond the ordinary, she was still just a precocious adolescent. The maturing agencies of love, grief, and loneliness had yet to go to work on her. She was just a ship, number 834, a ship who sang . . . Helva was a hopeless cripple from birth. Her parents gave her excellent brain to Central Control for the specialized training and adaptation that turned her into one of a special class of sentient spaceship. She was good, but not outstanding, her only eccentricity her passion for music and her superb, though artificial, voice. Then she fell in love with her first male partner, and after his tragic death her life was an Odyssey, a despairing search for happiness. But no Odysseus had half so exciting a journey among the stars . . . “
From the rear flap of the dust jacket: “ . . . ANNE McCAFFREY is shown with the Nebula she won in 1969 for Dragonrider, the second half of her novel DRAGONFLIGHT (Walker, 1969). The first half of the same novel, Weyr Search, won a Hugo in 1968, which makes DRAGONFLIGHT unique, and establishes Miss McCaffrey as one of the most important modern writers of science fiction . . . “
It could be noted that THE SHIP WHO SANG was one of the first efforts in science fiction to utilize the idea of an “intelligent” space ship. THE SHIP WHO SANG, is, in sense, a precursor of sorts to Ann Leckie’s ANCILLARY JUSTICE (Leckie’s 1st novel; published in 2013) that uses the idea of an “intelligent” space ship. ANCILLARY JUSTICE won the Hugo Award, the Nebula Award, the BSFA Award, the Arthur C. Clarke Award, and the Locus Award for Best First Novel.
I grade books and dust jackets: fine, near fine, very good, good, fair, and poor. I describe all faults. If you sell books on EBAY (or anywhere else), it is de rigueur not to list 1st printings of book club books as 1st editions (unless they ARE the 1st edition, which occurs only occasionally); also, a 1st edition, 7th printing, is not a 1st edition. Ex-library books must be noted as such since generally they are of little value to the collector of 1st editions. Condition is also very important to those collectors. Books and dust jackets must be described in detail. In other words, it is incumbent upon the SELLER to know what is and is not a 1st edition. Mistakes can be made (and corrected), of course, but if you DON'T KNOW, don't try to sell a book as a 1st edition.
A NEAR FINE book in a NEAR FINE dust jacket. The book is tight and square in its off-white boards binding with black and bright gilt lettering on the spine of the book. There is no writing in the book; no bookplates; no remainder marks. The upper portion of the spine of the book itself is slightly wrinkled. The publisher’s salmon-colored topstain is unmarred. The dust jacket is NOT price-clipped and shows the correct 1st issue price of $4.95. There are no chips or tears to the dust jacket. The upper portion of the spine panel of the dust jacket is slightly wrinkled, matching the slight wrinkling of the book noted above. There is just a touch of rubbing to the rear panel of the dust jacket; unobtrusive and much, much less than is usually encountered; usually dust jackets for THE SHIP WHO SANG show up in worn, torn, and rubbed condition; that is not the case here.
The usual “type” of artwork that was used on the front panel of Walker and Company dust jackets was, in this case, accomplished by the excellent artist Jack Gaughan.
A MUST FOR THE COLLECTOR OF IMPORTANT MODERN SCIENCE FICTION 1st EDITIONS AND/OR THE COLLECTOR OF AWARD-NOMINATED 1st EDITIONS AND/OR THE COLLECTOR OF ANNE McCAFFREY 1st EDITIONS! ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Additional photos are available upon request.
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