Sphere.

First edition of Crichton’s sixth book, a sci-fi psychological thriller about a team of scientists who discover a massive, ancient spacecraft resting on the Pacific Ocean floor, basis for the film starring Dustin Hoffman. Octavo, original half cloth. Association copy, inscribed by Michael Crichton on the front free endpaper, “To Rebecca – As ever – Michael (You may remember this as originally takes place in Florida…).” Michael Crichton was a novelist, filmmaker, and creator of the television series ER whose books have sold more than 200 million copies worldwide and who remains the only writer in history to have achieved simultaneous number one rankings in book, film, and television in the same year, was married to his first wife Rebecca Joan Crichton (Joan Radam) from 1965 to 1970, a period that encompassed the publication of The Andromeda Strain (1969), the breakthrough novel that established his reputation as a writer of technically sophisticated science fiction thrillers and launched one of the most commercially dominant careers in the history of American popular fiction. Rebecca was Crichton’s partner during the most formative years of his literary life, when he was simultaneously completing his medical degree at Harvard Medical School, writing prolifically under the pseudonym John Lange to finance his education, and developing the distinctive techno-thriller voice that would make him a global phenomenon. Crichton was by habit and temperament a generous inscriber of his books, and the copies he presented to Rebecca during their marriage represent some of the most intimate and bibliographically significant association pieces in the Crichton canon, documenting through his own hand the personal and professional world from which his literary identity emerged. Near fine in a near fine dust jacket. A desirable association copy of one of Crichton’s most popular thrillers.