Books

First edition, first issue, of this foundational work of modern science fiction, in which the author redeploys the conventions of the invasion-scare genre to imagine a force of seemingly invincible Martians. The story was suggested by the author's brother, Frank. The two men were walking "through some particularly peaceful Surrey scenery" when Frank remarked, "suppose some beings from another planet were to drop out of the sky suddenly". The novel is dedicated to Frank with the comment "this rendering of his idea". This is a first issue copy, with the 16-page publisher's catalogue, "Mr. William Heinemann's Autumn Announcements", dated 1897 and headed by New Letters of Napoleon I on the second page. The novel was serialized simultaneously in Pearson's magazine in Great Britain and Cosmopolitan magazine in the US, from April to December 1897. Octavo. Original grey cloth, spine and front cover lettered in black, rear cover with publisher's monogram in black, edges untrimmed. With 16 pp. of publisher's advertisements at rear. Contemporary bookseller's blind stamp of W.H. Smith & Son on the front free endpaper. Spine slightly toned, touch of rubbing at extremities, short superficial splits to inner hinges, but firm, browning to free endpapers, minor foxing on outer leaves, small faint damp stain to the outer margin of a few gatherings, else generally clean. A very good copy. Currey pp. 526-7; Hammond B5; Wells 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.