A few months back, I had rescued this hardcover version of Ray Bradbury's R is for Rocket from a library discard pile. I've had a paperback copy for years, but I loved the artwork on this 1962 hardcover (published by Doubleday, no artist credit). I brought the book home, and this past weekend I finally got a chance to frame the cover and hang it on my wall - without any cutting of the paper cover. I took off the library dust jacket that was covering it and pressed the slightly battered paper cover in a frame.
Not only did I frame it because I liked the artwork, but Ray Bradbury was one of the first authors that I really and thoroughly enjoyed when I was in high school. I remember being given a short story of his here and there through school textbook anthologies, and then my junior year I came across Fahrenheit 451 and I was hooked. Over the next few years, I read everything by Bradbury that I could get my hands on. Any time I found a book of his at one of the many used book sales I would frequent, I was like a pirate discovering buried treasure.
Today, during my lunch break at work, my phone lit up with a CNN alert to tell me that Ray Bradbury had passed away. I couldn't believe it, as just this past weekend I was talking to my fiancé about how much I love Bradbury's books while I framed the R is for Rocket cover. So as a humble fan, I would just like to say thank you for the all of the stories, Mr. Bradbury. You will be missed, but your words will live on.
do you know who did the cover artwork?
ReplyDeleteHi, M. Contorelli. There was no information on the cover artist in the inside of the book at all. I also did quite a bit of internet searching when I wrote this post and couldn't find any answers.
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