(#138606) LOOKING FORWARD: A DREAM OF THE UNITED STATES OF THE AMERICAS IN 1999. Arthur Bird.

LOOKING FORWARD: A DREAM OF THE UNITED STATES OF THE AMERICAS IN 1999. [Utica, New York: Press of L. C. Childs & Son, 1899.]. 12mo, pp. [1-3] 4-234 [235-240: blank] [note: last three leaves are blanks], nine inserted plates (including map frontispiece), original decorated tan cloth, front panel stamped in brown, spine panel stamped in gold, tan endpapers with floral pattern printed in green. First edition. A presentation copy with inscription by Bird signed "the author" dated "Sidney, N.Y. Oct. 15, 1928." More an imaginary history of the future than a work of fiction. The sinking of the Maine is avenged by an international fleet of aerial dreadnoughts which destroy Spain. The author is convinced that the United States "in the years to come, will govern the entire Western Hemisphere" from a new Washington situated in central Mexico. Emphasis is on technological advances and social reform (rather Puritanical overall -- more dystopian than utopian). In chapter 26 the "Negro problem" is solved in 1975 -- after much violence -- by the purchase -- authorized by Congress -- of three northern provinces in the State of Venezuela, a "reservation" to which the "elated" Black Americans emigrated shortly thereafter and "thrived well." "Only a few works -- especially LOOKING FORWARD and Benjamin Rush Davenport's ANGLO-SAXONS ONWARD! (1898) -- were completely dominated by an international viewpoint; and even these books focused not on international relationships but on the Americanization of the world." - Roemer, The Obsolete Necessity, p. 143. Bleiler, Science-Fiction: The Early Years 206. Lewis, Utopian Literature, p. 210. Negley, Utopian Literature: A Bibliography 108. Rooney, Dreams and Visions: A Study of American Utopias, 1865-1917, p. 183. Sargent, British and American Utopian Literature, 1516-1985, p. 118. Reginald 01314. Not in Bleiler (1948; 1978). Several small stains to front cover, a very good copy. (#138606).

Price: $250.00

See more items by
Printing identification statement for this book:
No statement of printing.