GAMBLES WITH DESTINY. London: F. V. White & Co., 1899. Octavo, pp. [1-8] [1-3] 4-232 + 16-page undated publisher's catalogue inserted at rear, original brown cloth, front and spine panels stamped in gold, publisher's monogram stamped in blind on rear panel. First edition. Collection of short fiction; four of the five being SF stories. Includes "A Corner in Lightning," Griffith's best story. Also includes "Hellsville U.S.A." which Sargent (Additions) says describes "economic reform in the United States. Worst and most useless people put on a reservation. Destroyed by meteors." Bleiler, Science-Fiction: The Early Years 935. Clarke, Tale of the Future (1978), p. 25. Locke, A Spectrum of Fantasy, p. 97. Sargent, British and American Utopian Literature, 1516-1985, Additions. Stableford, Scientific Romance in Britain 1890-1950, pp. 50-1. Suvin, Victorian Science Fiction in the UK, p. 76. Bleiler (1978), p. 87. Reginald 06370. Hubin (1994), p. 355. Wolff 2794. Cloth rubbed at spine ends and corner tips and along outer joints, several damp stains to front cover, free endpapers darkened, remnants of labels on front paste-down and free endpaper, a sound, good copy with tight hinges and clean interior. (#130301).
Price: $85.00
No statement of printing.