Oh man, that is so cool, I'm really jealous. Even though it's a serious wodge, it'll never go down in value if you take care of it, and may even become a valuable heirloom.
I too am an absolute fan of this book. My first experience was the 50s movie, which blew me away. I then realised we had the book in the house, a rare sci-fi gem amongst all the boring crap - it was a 1966 hardback ex-school library edition which I still have. It's worth nowt, I doubt even a charity shop would take it, but I adore this battered old book, especially the single illustration at the front:
Jeff Wayne's version was the first LP I ever bought with my own money (I was spending Christmas money and also bought Pink Floyd's The Wall at the same time, which I sometimes cite as my first album, depending on the audience
). That's a piece of music that still thrills me today. And I went to see the live version a few years ago. I even like that movie with Malcolm McDowell.
Congratulations on a great find.
