Edward E. "DOC" Smith, THE LENSMAN SAGA, Leather-Bound Limited Edition, 6-Volume Complete Matched Set

A six volume leather bound collection of the Lensman Saga, the incomparable epic of interstellar adventure from the great master of science fiction's Golden Age.

Easton Press, Norwalk CT. The Lensman Saga by Edward E. "DOC" SMITH. This matching set of six volumes is complete and luxuriously bound in full genuine leather. Each volume features uniform black leather bindings and distinct cover designs with decorations. 

The Lensman series is a series of science fiction novels by American author Edward Elmer "Doc" Smith. It was a runner-up for the 1966 Hugo award for Best All-Time Series (the winner was the Foundation series by Isaac Asimov).

These volumes reproduce the lauded Fantasy Press editions of the 1940s and 50s and feature frontispieces of those editions' thrilling full-color dust jacket art.

Complete 6-volume set in one shipment:

Volume I: Triplanetary [Very Fine]

Volume II: First Lensman [Very Fine]

Volume III: Galactic Patrol [Very Fine]

Volume IV: Gray Lensman [Very Fine]

Volume V: Second Stage Lensman [Very Fine- with two small marks to the top of page edges]

Volume VI: Children of the Lens [Very Fine- with very minor scratch to bottom of page edges]

About the author

Edward Elmer Smith (May 2, 1890 – August 31, 1965), better known by his pen name E. E. "Doc" Smith, was an American food engineer (specializing in doughnut and pastry mixes) and science-fiction author, best known for the Lensman and Skylark series. He is sometimes called the father of space opera.

The Lensman series

In January 1936, a time period where he was already an established science-fiction writer, he took a job for salary plus profit-sharing as production manager at Dawn Donut Co. of Jackson, Michigan. This initially entailed almost a year's worth of 18-hour days and seven-day workweeks. Individuals who knew Smith confirmed that he had a role in developing mixes for doughnuts and other pastries, but the contention that he developed the first process for making powdered sugar adhere to doughnuts cannot be substantiated. Smith was reportedly dislocated from his job at Dawn Donuts by prewar rationing in early 1940.

Smith had been contemplating writing a "space-police novel" since early 1927; once he had "the Lensmen's universe fairly well set up", he reviewed his science-fiction collection for "cops-and-robbers" stories. He cites Clinton Constantinescue's "War of the Universe" as a negative example, and Starzl and Williamson as positive ones.[56] Tremaine responded extremely positively to a brief description of the idea.

Once Dawn Donuts became profitable in late 1936, Smith wrote an 85-page outline for what became the four core Lensman novels. In early 1937, Tremaine committed to buying them. Segmenting the story into four novels required considerable effort to avoid dangling loose ends. Smith cited Edgar Rice Burroughs as a negative example.[57] After the outline was complete, he wrote a more detailed outline of Galactic Patrol, plus a detailed graph of its structure, with "peaks of emotional intensity and the valleys of characterization and background material." He notes, however, that he was never able to follow any of his outlines at all closely, as the "characters get away from me and do exactly as they damn please." After completing the rough draft of Galactic Patrol, he wrote the concluding chapter of the last book in the series, Children of the Lens. Galactic Patrol was published in the September 1937 through February 1938 issues of Astounding. Unlike the revised book edition, it was not set in the same universe as Triplanetary.

Gray Lensman, the fourth book in the series, appeared in Astounding's October 1939 through January 1940 issues. Gray Lensman was extremely well received, as was its cover illustration. Campbell's editorial in the December issue suggested that the October issue was the best issue of Astounding ever, and Gray Lensman was first place in the Analytical Laboratory statistics "by a lightyear", with three runners-up in a distant tie for second place. The cover was also praised by readers in Brass Tacks, and Campbell noted, "We got a letter from E. E. Smith saying he and [cover artist] Hubert Rogers agreed on how Kinnison looked."

Smith was the guest of honor at Chicon I, the second World Science Fiction Convention, held in Chicago over Labor Day weekend 1940,[65] giving a speech on the importance of science fiction fandom entitled "What Does This Convention Mean?" He attended the convention's masquerade as C. L. Moore's Northwest Smith, and met fans living near him in Michigan, who would later form the Galactic Roamers, which previewed and advised him on his future work.

After Pearl Harbor, Smith discovered he "was one year over age for reinstatement" into the US Army. Instead he worked on high explosives at the Kingsbury Ordnance Plant in La Port, Indiana, at first as a chemical engineer, but gradually worked his way up to chief. In late 1943 he became head of the Inspection Division, and was fired in early 1944.

Smith spent the next few years working on "light farm machinery and heavy tanks for Allis-Chalmers," after which he was hired as manager of the Cereal Mix Division of J. W. Allen & Co., where he worked until his professional retirement in 1957.

Triplanetary

Triplanetary was first serialized in Amazing Stories in 1934 and it later on formed the first of the Lensman series, where it set the stage for what is one of the greatest space-opera sagas ever written. This original publication brings us to a distant planet inhabited by a highly developed aquatic race called the Nevians. They have managed to harness the atomic power of iron and have an enormous need for the metal to generate energy, but their planet has virtually no iron reserves.

They build a spaceship to venture into the universe and find iron. Eventually they discover that Earth has huge amounts of iron and the Nevians start to extract all the iron out of Pittsburgh with a special ray. This ray shoots into the city and immediately vaporizes and removes any iron from the buildings, machines, earth, and even from human blood. It is up to Conway Costigan, a mercilessly competent, two-fisted whiz agent of the military Triplanetary Service, and his colleagues to save the planet.

First Lensman

The enemy spacefleet arrowed toward the armored mountain—nerve center of the Galactic Patrol. The Patrol battle cruisers swerved to meet them, and a miles-long cone of pure energy ravened out at the invaders, destroying whatever it touched.

But the moment before the force beam struck, thousands of tiny objects dropped from the enemy fleet and, faster than light, flashed straight at their target—each one an atom bomb powerful enough to destroy Patrol Headquarters by itself! The Galactic Patrol—and civilization itself—had seconds to live. Unless a miracle happened...

The second book of the Lensman Series, a runner-up for the Hugo award for Best All-Time Series.

Galactic Patrol

The Lensmen are the most feared peacekeepers in the Galaxy. The ‘Lens’, a telepathic jewel matched to the ego of its wearer, is the ultimate weapon in the war against the merciless pirate Boskone and his forces of lawlessness. The only problem is the Galactic Patrol isn’t sure how to capitalize on the Lens’ incredible powers, but new graduate Kimball Kinnison is determined to learn. Taking command of the experimental fighting ship, the Brittania, Kinnison and his crew set off on a journey of harrowing adventures, coming face to face with deadly space creatures and evil pirates...

Gray Lensman

Gray Lensman is a science fiction novel by author E. E. Smith. It was first published in book form in 1951 by Fantasy Press in an edition of 5,096 copies. The novel was originally serialized in the magazine Astounding in 1939. Gray Lensman is the fourth (originally the second) book in the classic Lensman series and the second to focus on the adventures of Lensman extraordinaire Kimball Kinnison.

Second Stage Lensman

Kim Kinnison, Number One man of his time, had faced challenges before - but rarely one as daunting as this. To him fell the perilous task of infiltrating the inner circle of Boskone, stronghold of galactic civilization’s most deadly foe. Kinnison had to become a local Boskonian in every gesture, deed - and thought. He had to work his way up through the ranks of an alien enemy organization, right into the highest echelons of power. Then it would be he who issued the orders - orders that would destroy his own civilization…

Children of the Lens

Twenty years have passed since the events in Second State Lensman. Kimball Kinnison and his wife, Clarrissa, now have five children - the "Children of the Lens". As the offspring of generations of selected matings, they are the most brilliant and capable minds in the universe. Their mission: to conclude the Boskonian war. Children of the Lens is the sixth and concluding volume of the classic Lensman series, long recognized as the greatest space opera ever written.