Books

Nicolai Klimii iter Subterraneum Novem Telluris Theoriam by Ludvig Holberg 1st Ed Three former owners' small signatures on title page, one with short note dated 1812, old library stamp on title page, first page of text creased where fold-out plate faces it, a common fault, browning and foxing throughout as usual. The vellum shows the usual patina and dust soiling imparted by age. Original Latin text. [Holberg, Ludvig]. Author's name not stated on title page. Nicolai Klimii iter Subterraneum Novem Telluris Theoriam ac Historiam Quint� Monarchi� Adhuc Incognit� Exhibens e Bibliotheca B. Abelini (this Latin title being better known to English-language readers as: Niels Klim's Journey to the World Underground). Sumpibus Jacobi Preussii, Hafni� & Lipsi�. 1741. First edition. The first important use in fiction of Edmond Halley's theory that the earth (and other planets) consist of concentric nested spheres surrounding a small central sun. Our hero falls through the earth's crust into the earth's hollow interior where he finds a small sun and the planet, Nazar, circling it. He has adventures on Nazar with its nonhuman intelligent beings. Bound in Early vellum over boards with title hand-lettered on spine (the same binding as the Wollheim copy.) Frontispiece and three plates, one of which is a fold-out page. From the collection of Barry R. Levin, Science Fiction and Fantasy Literature.

Set in the year 1665, the story is narrated by Niels Klim, who returns to his hometown of Bergen after graduating from the University of Copenhagen. During a mountain climb with friends, he falls into a pit and, after fifteen minutes, emerges in the hollow interior of the Earth. This space is a miniature cosmos with planets orbiting a small sun. After drifting for a while, he lands on a planet called Nazar, in the kingdom of Potu (an anagram of "utopia"), where he encounters intelligent tree-like beings. Holberg's work combines satire with a fantastic voyage and embodies the spirit of the eighteenth century. Aside from its Latin language and passages of verse and prose adapted from classical authors, this novel is entirely modern in spirit. Its depiction of travel to exotic lands is reminiscent of Jonathan Swift's "Gulliver's Travels" (1726), but with more wit and humor. Holberg's idea of a hollow Earth containing other habitable lands foreshadows Jules Verne's "Journey to the Center of the Earth."