6.25" x 9.5", 304 page hardcover with dustjacket titled GRUMBLES FROM THE GRAVE by Robert A. Heinlein and edited by Virginia Heinlein/ A Del Rey Book, ISBN #0-345-36246-2, First Printing, January 1990/ Grumbles from the Grave is a posthumous 1989 autobiography of science fiction author Robert A. Heinlein collated by his wife Virginia Heinlein from his notes and writings. The work is the closest that Heinlein, an ex-naval officer and prominent science fiction writer, came to writing an autobiography. The book contains a wide range of correspondence, notes and memoirs edited by Heinlein's wife Virginia, and was published a year and a half after his death. Grumbles from the Grave provides insight into Heinlein's writing process (and the editorial/publishing process with which he was often at odds). In addition, it contains evidence of his philosophy as applied to his life and personal opinions. Beginning with a short biography of Robert by Virginia, the bulk of the book consists of excerpts of correspondence from the period from 1939 to 1970, from when he began writing science fiction until the onset of his first major illness. There is considerable information provided into how the 13-year gestation of Heinlein's novel Stranger in a Strange Land evolved. Additionally there is the original postlude to Podkayne of Mars and a discussion of cuts made to his novel Red Planet. The book is complete and in VERY GOOD condition with some overall wear mainly to the dustjacket which has some wear along the top edge.