The Best of L. Sprague de Camp
The Best of L. Sprague de Camp is a collection of writings by American science fiction and fantasy author L. Sprague de Camp, first published in hardback by Nelson Doubleday in February 1978 and in paperback by Ballantine Books in May of the same year as a volume in its Classic Library of Science Fiction. The book was reprinted by Ballantine in May 1986. It was reissued in trade paperback and ebook editions by Phoenix Pick in December 2014. It has also been translated into German.
Cover of the first edition.
Lyon Sprague de Camp was an American author of science fiction, fantasy and non-fiction literature. In a career spanning 60 years, he wrote over 100 books, both novels and works of non-fiction, including biographies of other fantasy authors. He was a major figure in science fiction in the 1930s and 1940s.
De Camp (center) with Robert A. Heinlein and Isaac Asimov in 1944
A de Camp-Pratt "Gavagan's Bar" story was cover-featured on the January 1959 issue of Fantastic Universe
de Camp's heroic fantasy novel The Tritonian Ring was cover-featured on Two Complete Science-Adventure Books in 1951
In 1952, Richard M. Powers provided a Galaxy Science Fiction cover highlighting essays by de Camp and by Robert A. Heinlein