I’m working on a complete Hal Clement collection, and this was one of the key titles I was missing.
Clement, Hal (pseudonym for Harry Clement Stubbs). Cycle of Fire. Ballantine Books, 1957. First edition hardback, an Ex-Library copy with all the usual flaws, including stamps on page block edged, inside covers and interior pages, tape ghosts, endpapers excised. etc., with wear along bottom boards, moderate crease to spine, and writing on lower spine, in a dust jacket with 1/4″ chips at head, sticker at heel, and severe sunfading to spine and an inch to free cover, completing fading the the title, and front label faded from orange to yellow, with a bit more wear at edges at points, otherwise intact; call it a Good/Very Good- Ex-Lib copy, signed by Clement (“Hal Clement” (Harry C. Stubbs)”). Hassley, Hal Clement, pages 33-37./ Currey, page 469. Pringle, Ultimate Guide to Science Fiction, page 76. ought off a fellow Biblio dealer for $100, bargained down from considerably more. It’s been decades since I’ve seen a Fine/Fine copy offered for sale, and even Ex-Lib copies tend to list for several hundred dollars.
I knew Hal a little bit, having given him a ride back from an Armadillocon dinner decades ago. We talked about him flying B-24 Liberators in World War II.