THE GREAT WAR SYNDICATE. London and New York: Longmans, Green, and Co., 1889. Octavo, pp. [1-3] 4-160, original pictorial tan wrappers printed in red. First edition. According to BAL, the first edition was published in London by Longmans, Green and Co. in January 1889 in three formats: boards, cloth-backed boards, and paper wrappers, this being on of the latter. The first American edition was published by P. F. Collier in March 1889. An important early American contribution to the future war motif. A syndicate of American businessmen directs a war against Great Britain. Use of advanced weapons, including a "motor bomb" (a sort of jet-propelled shell with tremendous explosive force), compels the British to sue for peace. An Anglo-American alliance is formed to outlaw all war. Anatomy of Wonder (1976) 2-143; (1981) 1-155; (1987) 1-88; (1995) 1-88; and (2004) II-1089. Bleiler, Science-Fiction: The Early Years 2104. Clareson, The Emergence of American Science Fiction: 1880-1915, pp. 262-65. Clareson, Science Fiction in America, 1870s-1930s 728. Clarke, Tale of the Future (1978), p. 15. Locke, A Spectrum of Fantasy, p. 207 (describing this UK edition). Roemer, The Obsolete Necessity, pp. 187-88. Sargent, British and American Utopian Literature, 1516-1985, p. 83. Suvin, Victorian Science Fiction in the UK, p. 39. Bleiler (1978), p. 187. Reginald 13715. BAL 18894. Mild wear at spine ends and corner tips, some tanning and soiling to wrappers, a very good copy of a fragile book. A clipped Stockton signature is pasted on the inside front cover. An exceedingly scarce book. Enclosed in a custom cloth clamshell box. (#156361).
Price: $1,000.00
No statement of printing.