Prelude to Space by Arthur C. Clarke (Sidgwick & Jackson, 1953)
First hardback edition of Prelude to Space, a science fiction novel written in in 1947 by Arthur C. Clarke (1917–2008), who is best known for 2001: A Space Odyssey. Prelude to Space was originally issued in 1951 as a paperback from World Editions Inc, as number three in its series of Galaxy novels. This edition by Sidgwick & Jackson was published in London in 1953, with cover art by Gerard Quinn (1927–2015).
The bold casual sign painter caps are hand-lettered, but clearly patterned after a typeface: it’s Howard A. Trafton’s Cartoon, issued by Bauer in 1936 and named Fresko in Germany. In the typeface, S and U are narrower, the former with vertically cut terminals and the latter with a right stem that’s higher than the left one. Also, P doesn’t have a notch between bowl and stem as in this rendition.
