Books

First edition, first printing, with publisher's ads to pp. 247-248. Publisher's pictorial red cloth, with front board stamped in gilt and black, spine stamped in gilt, and title page printed in orange and black. Very good, with some scuffing and discoloration to cloth, some toning to spine, a tiny nick to head of spine, bright gilt to front board, "William Farrell Smith" bookplate to front pastedown, light offsetting to endpapers, and binding slightly cracked and loose but intact. Overall, a very pleasing copy of this iconic title. In this enormously influential science fiction novel, a man wearing heavy clothing and wrapped in bandages shows up at an inn in West Essex. His reclusiveness and eccentricity catch the attention of the villagers, and eventually, in a fit of rage, he reveals his invisibility to them. The Invisible Man, later revealed to be a former medical student whose condition is the result of a science experiment gone wrong, coerces a tramp named Thomas Marvel to become his assistant, and attempts to carry out a "reign of terror" against humanity. The Invisible Man was first published as a serial in Pearson's Weekly (1897) and was published in book form later that same year. The titular character is now regarded as one of the classic characters of horror fiction, on par with Frankenstein, Dracula, and Dorian Gray.

H.G. Wells's "The Invisible Man" tells the story of a scientist named Griffin who discovers the secret to becoming invisible. With themes of unchecked scientific ambition and the consequences of isolation, this novel remains one of Wells's most enduring and thought-provoking works.