Arthur C. Clarke

2001: A Space Odyssey

US$85

Illustrated by Joe Wilson

Introduced By Michael Moorcock

Every bit as ambitious and prophetic as the film that shared its inception, Arthur C. Clarke’s 2001: A Space Odyssey remains a towering science-fiction classic. This Folio Society edition sees it illustrated for the first time.

US$85

Book Details

Presentation Box & BindingBound in printed art paper and blocked with holographic foil
Metallic slipcase

Dimensions9½ inches x 6¼ inches

FontSet in Cartier Book with Univers for display

Pages240 pages

AuthorArthur C. Clarke

Illustrated byJoe Wilson

IllustrationFrontispiece and 6 colour illustrations

Publication Date12/02/2016

Editor's Notes

Developed from Arthur C. Clarke’s short story ‘The Sentinel’, 2001: A Space Odyssey was brainstormed together with legendary film director Stanley Kubrick and written alongside the screenplay. This spectacular edition includes the foreword written jointly by Clarke and Kubrick, as well as Clarke’s ‘Back to 2001’ preface written in 1989. An exclusive introduction by Clarke’s long-standing colleague Michael Moorcock reveals much of his friend’s personality, as well as casting a new light on the fractious relationship between Clarke and Kubrick. The edition is finished with a holographic foil binding that features a design by Joe Wilson. The British artist has also created seven remarkable illustrations, which interpret Clarke’s futuristic vision with an otherworldly detachment that is both chilling and exhilarating.

About the illustrator

Joe Wilson

Joe Wilson is an illustrator based in the UK and trained at Leeds Metropolitan University. Known for his focus on detail and drawing, alongside a preference for muted colour palettes, he specialises in hand-drawn illustrations and print. Working with a combination of pencil, ink and digital colour, he has developed a style reminiscent of woodcut printing, etching and screen-printing.

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About the illustrator

Joe Wilson

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About the illustrator

Joe Wilson

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About the illustrator

Joe Wilson

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About the illustrator

Joe Wilson

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Arthur C. Clarke was born in 1917 in Minehead, Somerset. Volunteering for RAF service in 1941, Clarke worked on radar systems during the Second World War, and published an influential paper in 1945 which sketched the potential for orbital communication satellites. His passionate interest in science was allied with an early facility for fiction writing, and he went on to write more than 70 books, including Childhood’s End (1967; Folio Society 2023), 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968; Folio Society 2016), Rendezvous with Rama (1973; Folio Society 2020), Rama II (1989), The Ghost from the Grand Banks (1991) and The Garden of Rama (1991). He became the world’s foremost science-fiction writer and won numerous international awards including the Hugo and Nebula. In 1968 he shared an Academy Award nomination for his collaboration with Stanley Kubrick on the film 2001: A Space Odyssey. He was awarded a knighthood in 1998 and died in 2008 in his adopted home of Sri Lanka.

Michael Moorcock is one of the most important figures in British SF and Fantasy literature. His novels have won, and been shortlisted for, numerous awards including the Hugo, Nebula, World Fantasy, Whitbread and Guardian Fiction Prize. In 1999, he was given the World Fantasy Life Achievement Award; in 2001, he was inducted into the SF Hall of Fame; and in 2007, he was named a SFWA Grandmaster. His tenure as editor of New Worlds magazine in the sixties and seventies is seen as the high watermark of SF editorship in the UK, and was crucial in the development of the SF New Wave. Although born in London, he now splits his time between homes in Texas and Paris. As well as 2001: A Space Odyssey, Moorcock introduced the Folio edition of The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay (2020) and wrote the preface to Marvel: The Silver Age 1960–1970 (2018).

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2001: A Space Odyssey