A VOYAGE TO THE WORLD IN THE CENTRE OF THE EARTH. GIVING AN ACCOUNT OF THE MANNERS, CUSTOMS, LAWS, GOVERNMENT AND RELIGION OF THE INHABITANTS, THEIR PERSONS AND HABITS DESCRIBED: WITH SEVERAL OTHER PARTICULARS. IN WHICH IS INTRODUCED, THE HISTORY OF AN INHABITANT OF THE AIR, WRITTEN BY HIMSELF. WITH SOME ACCOUNT OF THE PLANETARY WORLDS. London: Printed for S. Crowder and H. Woodgate, in Pater-noster Row, 1755. 12mo, pp. [i-ii] iii-xii [1] 2-275 [276: ads], eighteenth century full paneled calf, all panels tooled in blind, black leather title piece, gauffered edges. First edition. "This is one of the more imaginative, and possibly the rarest, of a group of imaginary voyage novels published in the wake of PETER WILKINS. Several of those, including this one, were reprinted in more or less abridged form as chapbooks about 1800, the later edition of this one being BRUCE'S VOYAGE TO NAPLES ... (1798)." - Locke, Voyages in Space (2011) V80. Anatomy of Wonder (1976) 1-3 and (1981) 1-5. Bleiler, Science-Fiction: The Early Years 2273. Costes and Altairac, Les Terres Creuses 26. Gove, The Imaginary Voyage in Prose Fiction, pp. 341-2. Locke, Voyages in Space (2011) V80 (not seen). Negley, Utopian Literature: A Bibliography 1155 (locating two copies; BL and DLC). Sargent, British and American Utopian Literature, 1516-1985, pp. 24-5. Bleiler (1978), p. 7. Reginald 14746. Block, The English Novel 1740-1850, p. 247. ESTC T214760. Recased many decades ago at which time the paste-downs were renewed and a new title label was made, sometime later a bookplate was removed from the front paste-down. However the binding is original and contemporary with the publication of the book. There is wear at corners and rubbing along outer joint, but the binding is sound and attractive. The text block has a few mild spots here and there, but is clean overall. This is quite a nice copy of a rare book. Enclosed in a custom quarter leather clamshell box. (#156353).
Price: $8,500.00
No statement of printing.