A CRYSTAL AGE. London: T. Fisher Unwin, 1887. Octavo, pp. [1-4] [1] 2-287 [288: blank] + 32-page publisher's catalogue dated "1886-7" inserted at rear, original black cloth, front and rear panels stamped in red, spine panel stamped in red and gold, top edge untrimmed, fore and bottom edges rough-trimmed, olive-green floral patterned endpapers. First edition. This binding state (no priority, if any, established) has the publisher's monogram in red on the rear cover. The book is found with and without publisher's catalogues inserted at rear; this copy has the earliest form of the catalogue, dated 1886-7 on page [1]. The author's anonymously published second book and first novel. Hudson's "fine quasi-utopian novel of the far future ... depicts small, self-sufficient, matriarchally organized households living in harmony with Nature. The protagonist, tragically, cannot adapt to their pastoral way of life ... Both stories [A CRYSTAL AGE and GREEN MANSIONS (1904)] are remarkable anticipations of modern ecological mysticism." - Clute and Nicholls (eds), The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction (1993), p. 593. "Significant SF milestone." - Suvin, Victorian Science Fiction in the UK, p. 33. Aldiss and Wingrove, Trillion Year Spree, p. 113. Anatomy of Wonder (1976) 2-98; (1981) 1-103; (1987) 1-51; (1995) 1-51; and (2004) II-551. Bailey, Pilgrims Through Space and Time, pp. 55-6. Barron (ed), Fantasy Literature 2-87. Bleiler, Science-Fiction: The Early Years 1135. Clarke, Tale of the Future (1973), p. 12. Lewis, Utopian Literature, pp. 96-7. Locke, A Spectrum of Fantasy, p. 118. Negley, Utopian Literature: A Bibliography 596. Sargent, British and American Utopian Literature, 1516-1985, p. 76. Survey of Science Fiction Literature I, pp. 449-52. In 333. Bleiler (1978), p. 104. Reginald 07530. NCBEL III 1059. Payne A2a. Armorial bookplate affixed to front paste-down. Inner front hinge tender, inner rear hinge cracked, corners gently bumped, touch of rubbing to cloth at spine ends and corner tips, a bright, very good copy. A nice copy of a book seldom found in better condition. (#111902).
Price: $1,250.00
No statement of printing on copyright page.