THE LORD OF THE SEA. With an Introduction by Carl van Vechten. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1924. Octavo, pp. [i-iv] v-xvii [xviii-xx] [1-2] 3-299 [300: blank], title page printed in blue and black, original mauve cloth, front and spine panels stamped in blue, top edge stained blue, running Borzoi stamped in blind on rear panel. First printing of the revised text. The revised text was not printed in England until the publication of the Gollancz edition in 1929. Among Shiel's most important and popular books. ".... with the aid of a cache of diamonds recovered from a meteorite [Richard Hogarth] finances the building of giant floating fortresses that give him command of the sea-lanes. He uses this advantage to blackmail the nations into peace and social progress... THE LORD OF THE SEA is exceptional in offering an elaborate account of the reforms demanded by Hogarth." - Stableford, Scientific Romance in Britain 1890-1950, pp. 77-8. "A brilliantly, highly imaginative work, conveying conviction despite its belated adherence to an early aesthetic of melodrama." - Bleiler, Science-Fiction: The Early Years 2026. This edition has an excellent 13-page introduction by Carl Van Vechten. Anatomy of Wonder (2004) II-1003. Clareson, Science Fiction in America, 1870s-1930s 691. Clarke, Tale of the Future (1978), p. 27. Locke, A Spectrum of Fantasy, p. 196. Negley, Utopian Literature: A Bibliography 1028. Bleiler (1978), p. 179. Reginald 13027. Morse, The Work of M. P. Shiel Updated (1980), pp. 101-02. Cloth rubbed at spine ends and corner tips, tiny 25¢ price in black crayon at upper right corner of the front free endpaper, a very good copy with wear along top and bottom edges, small chips at upper and lower spine ends and top of rear panel, and a closed tear at fore-edge of front panel extending into the front flap. The jacket, which is seldom encountered, presents well. (#159655).
Price: $250.00
"PUBLISHED, SEPTEMBER, 1924" on copyright page.