AUF ZWEI PLANETEN. ROMAN. Weimar: Verlag von Emil Felber, 1897. Octavo, two volumes: [i-iii] iv [1-3] 4-421 [422-424: ads]; [i-iii] iv [1-3] 4-545 [546-548: ads], original bevel-edged maroon cloth, front and spine panels stamped in gold, all edges marbled, floral-patterned endpapers, green ribbon markers. First edition, first printing. The first printing, limited to 2000 copies. A mammoth and highly imaginative novel. Earth is conquered by the Martians who establish a protectorate thereby bringing reason and utopia to the planet. "In the mainstream, the undisputed pioneer of German SF was Kurd Lasswitz (1848-1910). His AUF ZWEI PLANETEN (1897) is a classic of interplanetary fiction, remarkable not only for its striking anticipations of space travel, including space stations, but also for its attempt to give philosophical depth to a struggle between a technologically advanced humanoid Mars and an Earth fighting for independence and autonomy. The novel is not wholly successful -- Lasswitz was too didactic -- but is nevertheless a praiseworthy effort." - Rottensteiner, "German SF" in Anatomy of Wonder (1987), p. 383. AUF ZWEI PLANETEN "was neither his first book nor his only work of fiction, but it was the one that made him famous. It has been a permanent part of German literature since its first appearance in 1897. The Nazis banned it as 'democratic,' but it was reissued in 1948 [i.e. 1949] in celebration of the hundredth anniversary of Lasswitz' birth." - Ley, Rockets, Missiles, and Space Travel (1951), pp. 45-8. All but one post-World-War-II German-language edition and the only English-language edition are abridged. (The entire text is found in Rudi Schweikert's edition [Frankfurt: Verlag 2001, 1979], an edition now hard to find.). Anatomy of Wonder (1976) 2-103; (1981) 1-122; and (1987) 6-22 and (2004) II-634. Clute and Nicholls (eds), The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction (1993), p. 485. Kretzmann, The Pre-War German Utopian Novel (1890-1914), Ph.D. diss., Brown University, May, 1936, pp. 107-111, 213. Lewis, Utopian Literature, p. 109. Survey of Science Fiction Literature V, pp. 2334-38. Bloch (2002) 1864. Nagl, p. 248. Mild spine lean to volume two, rubbing to spine ends, corner tips and along bottom edges, small damp stain along lower fore-edge of front cover of volume one, small damp stain at upper right front corner of volume two and two fainter, small spots at upper fore-edge just below the corner stain, a tight, very good copy that presents well overall. First printing copies are rare. (#140642).
Price: $4,500.00
No statement of printing.