The Ice People by René Barjavel [BOOK CLUB EDITION / 1971]

The Ice People by René Barjavel 

FIRST U.S. BOOK CLUB EDITION [1971] WILLIAM MORROW & CO. 

Hardcover with dust jacket in very good condition. 

Dust jacket is fully in tact with some wear and tanning as well as staining [or foxing] to back.  Front looks great.  

Book itself looks and reads like new.  

When a French expedition in Antarctica reveals ruins of a 900,000 year old civilization, scientists from all over the world flock to the site to help explore & understand. The entire planet watches via global satellite tv, mesmerized, as they uncover a chamber in which a man & a woman have been in suspended animation since, as the French title suggests, 'the night of time'. The woman, Eléa, is awakened. Thru a translating machine she tells the story of her world, herself & her husband Paikan & how war destroyed her civilization. She also hints at an incredibly advanced knowledge her still-dormant companion possesses, knowledge that could give energy & food to all humans at no cost. But the superpowers of the world are not ready to let Eléa's secrets spread, & show that, 900,000 years & an apocalypse later, humankind has not grown up & is ready to make the same mistakes again.

First published in 1968 by Les Presses de la Cité. It was translated into English by C.L. Markham & a number of companies published The Ice People in the early 1970s.