CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND

New York: Delacorte Press, 1977. First edition (stated). Very good in very good jacket.. First printing of the book adaptation of Spielberg's ambitious, high-tech, and awe-inspiring film. In his book about the history of the film, Ray Morton pairs CLOSE ENCOUNTERS with STAR WARS (released the same year) as the two works that "revolutionized the movie industry by helping to create the modern blockbuster; by initiating the late 1970s/early 1980s cycle of science fiction and fantasy movies that produced a number of classic works of imaginative cinema [...] and by ushering in a new era of high-tech visual and special effects." A complex and ambitious project that Spielberg managed to fund on the strength of JAWS, the film's ballooning budget nearly bankrupted Columbia Pictures - and joined the likes of METROPOLIS in film history. While book club editions remain ubiquitous, the true first edition is increasingly uncommon. 8.25'' x 5.5''. Original quarter black cloth, blue-grey paper boards, silver-lettered spine. In original unclipped ($8.95) pictorial dust jacket designed by Dan Perri. Dark grey endpapers. 256 pages. Jacket lightly edgeworn and toned, with a couple of small spots of soil to verso. Book has slight lean, a bit shelfworn, with stain to top corner of front board. Overall, sound.