Heinemann, 1895
First UK Edition, First Printing, First State A handsome copy of this title. A first edition, first printing, first issue, with the 16 page publisher’s catalogue with first page headed “THE MANXMAN” inserted at rear.
Preferred first English edition of H.G. Wells’ first, groundbreaking “scientific romance,” Bound in the publisher’s oatmeal cloth and titled in purple to both covers with deck (untrimmed) edges to the pages. FIRST British edition, FIRST printing, FIRST ISSUE cloth binding, with 152 pages and 16 pages of advertisements. This copy has Currey’s earliest 16 page catalogue to the rear with Hall Caine’s ‘The Manxman’ and Kipling’s ‘The Naulahka’. 6000 copies were printed, of which 1500 were bound in cloth. This copy has Currey’s earliest 16 page catalogue to the rear with Hall Caine’s ‘The Manxman’ and Kipling’s ‘The Naulahka’.
Lovely unrestored Oatmeal cloth binding measures 18.2 cm vertically, top edge untrimmed, fore edge rough cut, spine set in 12-point type. The book is in near fine condition with
sharp corners, and no edgewear but some toning/fading to the spine cloth. The binding is tight and square. Scattered spotting to the endpapers otherwise no owner names, no bookplates and no inscriptions. The internal pages are clean, crisp, bright and flat, with no foxing, no handling marks, no writing, no bent pages and no stains. A handsome copy in exceptionally crisp and clean condition. Far nicer than usually found. Please see the many detailed images.
A superior clean copy. In 1894 Wells “began writing what he called ‘single sitting stories’ using his special knowledge of science, culminating in the publication of his novella The Time Machine in 1895. It was an immediate success” (Gunn, From Gilgamesh to Wells, 337). This title is also considered the author’s first SF novel. “Many rank it as Wells’s best book, certainly its qualities are striking and direct . All time-travel stories since owe a debt to Wells, none has become so acclaimed.” – Bleiler (ed), Science Fiction Writers, p. 26. “THE TIME MACHINE might be considered the first work of modern science-fiction, and it is still the classic statement of an important subgenre . A remarkable work, and necessary reading.” – Bleiler, Science-Fiction: The Early Years 2325.
Its earliest readers grasped its significance: as one contemporary review states, “So far as our knowledge goes [Wells] has produced that rarity which Solomon declared to be not merely rare but non-existent–a ‘new thing under the sun'” (Bergonzi, 41). Important not only for establishing Wells as a popular author but also for making a “crucial breakthrough in narrative technology, providing science fiction with one of its most significant facilitating devices” (Clute & Nicholls, 1227), “it is the most important foundation stone of British scientific romance and the science fiction genre in general” (Anatomy of Wonder II-1232).
