VENUS- UND MERKUR-MENSCHEN WISSENSCHAFT UND WELTAHNUNG. Mit 18 Federzeichnungen. Erfurt und Leipzig: Thüringer Verlagsanstalt H. Bartholomäus, [1927]. Octavo, pp. [1-8] 9-155 [156] [157] [158-160: ads], 18 figures in the text, original tan wrappers printed in red and brown, all edges untrimmed. First edition. A largely nonfiction study of Hanns Hörbiger's Glazial-Kosmogonie (Glacial Cosmogony) theory that includes a SF novella inspired by his ideas. Welteislehre (WEL; "World Ice Theory" or "World Ice Doctrine") is a discredited cosmological concept proposed by Hörbiger, an Austrian engineer and inventor, who received his ideas in a "vision" in 1894. According to his theory, ice was the basic substance of all cosmic processes, and ice moons, ice planets, and the "global ether" (also made of ice) had determined the entire development of the universe. Hörbiger's monumental 790-page GLAZIAL-KOSMOGONIE, written in collaboration with an amateur astronomer, is one of the great classics in the history of crackpot science. Hörbiger's ideas acquired many fanatical followers and, in addition to reams of nonfiction publications by the WEL and others, there were many works of fiction inspired by his vision. For more on Hörbiger and the reception of his theory see Martin Gardner, In the Name of Science, pp. 37-41. For a survey of some of the fiction inspired by Hörbiger's ideas see Jost Hermand, Old Dreams of a New Reich: Volkish Utopias and National Socialism, pp. 193-8. Lexikon 2, p. 157. Small chips from spine ends of wrappers, a very good copy. OCLC reports two copies, both in Germany. KVK reports the same copies and no others. Rare. (#154213).
Price: $350.00
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