Books

FIRST EDITION, waterstain to bottom corner carrying through (recedingly) first half of textblock, one or two light spots, a couple of pages slightly browned from previous insert, pp. viii, 304, 16 (Publisher's List dated 1897), cr.own 8vo, original grey cloth, lettered in black to upper board and backstrip, lean to spine, backstrip browned, edges rubbed, some light handling to cloth, edges untrimmed and toned, endpapers spotted, the front pastedown with small ex-libris label at foot and the beginning of the waterstain (see above) at bottom corner, slight tenderness (with a bit of surface cracking) to front hinge, good. (Wells 14; Wells Society 14).

The War of the Worlds is a science fiction novel by English author H.G. Wells. It first appeared in serialized form in 1897, published by Pearson’s Magazine in the UK and by Cosmopolitan magazine in the US. The novel details the experiences of an unnamed protagonist in London and his brother in Surrey during an invasion of Earth by Martians. It is a pioneering work of the science fiction genre, popularizing the alien invasion trope.