SPACE

1p., 12mo. Air mail letter on blue paper, addressed to Arthur Bourne, Academic Press Inc. (London) Ltd, 24-28 Oval Road, London, NW1 7DX, England. In good condition, lightly aged and creased. Clarke begins by thanking Bourne for his letter, and informing him that he has 'sent a card of thank [sic] to Dr. Allan Cottey'. 'I am now happily retired with the completion of my last and best novel "The Fountains of Paradise" (Playboy January and February - HBJ; Gollancz, January). I expect to be back in England in August to attend the World S. F.

1p., 8vo. A fragile piece of ephemera, on aged paper, with wear at head (not affecting text). The notice begins: 'For several months past the Council has had under consideration the question of the Society's finances since it has become apparent that our annual income is insufficient to ensure a continuous and regular flow of publications.' References follow to 'donations from private members', an 'enforced summer recess', 'the acquisition of library shelves, desks and other fittings'. Two reasons are given in justification of the doubling of the 'Fellowship subscription'.

Note: The Virtus System would seem to have been a proposed Transport System for the Space Shuttle which did not get beyond the drawing board. I have yet to find a connection between Douglas Ettridge and the Virtus System.At the time [early 1974] NASA Langley had a study ongoing on a large aircraft design called VIRTUS that would have carried the Orbiter under the center wing flanked by twin fuselages and a twin boom tail with power coming from four Pratt & Whitney JT9D turbofans.

One page. Dimensions of card roughly three and a half inches by four and a half. Right-hand side and bottom edge of card cropped. 'Autograph of' printed at head, and beneath this 'To Albert Millwa | With very best wi | Murray Kash'. The right-hand edges of the letter 'K' in Kash's name extend rightwards over the rest of the word, and may be very slightly cropped. Upper four lines of biographical cutting laid down at foot. Fragment of printed letter from Millward (and signed by him) requesting the autograph, beneath remains of plastic film on reverse.