Apollo slides. [Space].

Item Details

Seattle, WA:, Pacific Science Center,, [1969]., Hardcover 3-Ring Binder

First Edition, thus., NF

8vo. [30 leaves (unnumbered).], including 84 colour slides, preserved in 14 mylar 6-pocket sleeves, all neatly marked in margin w/ numbers and Apollo mission, all w/ preceding explanatory leaves detailing the missions. Publisher’s dark blue vinyl Smith Pacific 3-ring binder, white lettering front cover & spine (slight age toning to fore-edges of printed leaves, very slight colour shift within the colour slide images), still a NF copy. 

First edition, thus, of this exceedingly scarce NASA/Pacific Science Center Apollo space mission colour slide program, encompassing all five Space Sets for the Apollo 8 to Apollo 12 lunar missions. These include the iconic first photographs of the lunar surface and craters by Apollo 8; spacewalk photos from Apollo 9; the extraordinary six-frame sequence of Earthrise taken from the Apollo 10 Lunar Module; the exceptional lunar landing shots of Neil Armstrong, and Buzz Aldrin in Apollo 11, and finally the Apollo 12 shots with the second placing of an unfurled American flag in the Ocean of Storms, highlighting the 31 hours spent on the Moon’s surface by astronauts Pete Conrad and Alan Bean. The Pacific Science Center was a key exhibition space erected for the 1962 Century 21 Exposition Seattle World’s Fair, and featured extended Space achievements exhibits sponsored by NASA, and following the closing of the Fair continued to focus on science, and space exploration. 

Although without photographer’s imprint, these images were most likely created by Morley Studios based out of Tacoma, WA who held the photographic concession for the Seattle World’s Fair, and later the Seattle Center. Morley Brotman (1910-1980) operated several photo labs, shops, and souvenir options within the Center. This cataloguer has only been able to find two reference to similar sets, each containing 60 slides rather than the complete compliment of 84 slides, and no examples are located in Worldcat, or other institutional holdings.