Cosmos. by Sagan, Carl - 1980

New York: Random House, 1980. First edition of one of the best-selling science books ever published. Octavo, original half cloth. Association copy, inscribed by Carl Sagan on the title page to his in-laws in the year of publication, "For Les and Edie, with love and every good wish. Carl Sept. 28,1980." An excellent near fine example with small numbers on the top right of the title page, in a near fine dust jacket with a few small closed tears. Jacket design by Robert Aulicino, jacket painting by Adolph Schaller. Housed in a custom half morocco clamshell box. Association copies of this magnitude seldom enter the marketplace. Cosmos is the best-selling science book ever published in the English language. Brilliant and provocative, it traces today's knowledge and scientific methods to their historical roots, blending science and philosophy in a wholly energetic and irresistible way. "Enticing, imaginative, readable, iridescent" (The New York Times). It was also a thirteen-part television series written by Carl Sagan, Ann Druyan, and Steven Soter, with Sagan as presenter. It was executive-produced by Adrian Malone, produced by David Kennard, Geoffrey Haines-Stiles, and Gregory Andorfer, and directed by the producers, David Oyster, Richard Wells, Tom Weidlinger, and others. It covers a wide range of scientific subjects, including the origin of life and a perspective of our place in the universe. The series was first broadcast by the Public Broadcasting Service in 1980, and was the most widely watched series in the history of American public television until The Civil War. As of 2009, it was still the most widely watched PBS series in the world. It went on to win two Emmys and a Peabody Award, and has since been broadcast in more than 60 countries and seen by over 500 million people. It was followed-up by the 2014 documentary television series bearing the same name presented by astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson, who, as a young high school student, was inspired by Sagan.