THE JACKET (THE STAR ROVER). London: Mills & Boon, Limited, [1915]. Octavo, pp. [1-4] [1] 2-333 [334: printer's imprint] [335-336: ads] 1-[32]: ads [note: the 32 pages of ads are signatures 22 and 23 and are not an inserted catalogue], inserted color frontispiece, original green cloth, front panel ruled in blind, spine panel stamped in gold, bottom edge rough-trimmed. First edition, first printing with "Published 1915" on copyright page. The British edition preceded the U.S. edition. The British edition was deposited in the British Library 4 August 1915 and was listed as "ready" in Athenaeum 7 August 1915. The U.S. edition, titled THE STAR ROVER, was published by Macmillan in October and a copy was received by the Boston Athenaeum 14 October 1915. The story of a university professor who murders a colleague and is put into solitary confinement at San Quentin, where he learns, via self-hypnosis, to explore his previous incarnations. "Possibly the most curious of London's novels. ... Some of the phantasmagoric episodes have considerable power. The book reveals an unexpected side of Jack London. Not only was he the victim of poverty in his youth, as his concern for social justice might suggest, he was the illegitimate son of a spiritualist and an astrologer." - T. Collins in Smith (ed), Twentieth Century Science Fiction Writers (1981), p. 343. "The book could be placed in the same sub-genre as Arnold's PHRA THE PHOENICIAN, Armour's SO FAST HE RAN, Mason's THE THREE GENTLEMEN and others. Historical fiction almost always means a novel set in a single continuous period. The device of following a soul's reincarnations through different periods affords the author a new dimension of character development. It also lets the writer concatenate short historical fictions, employing more variety of background while maintaining the genre's usual sense of 'sweep' -- not with a horizontal exploration through space but a vertical exploration through time, shifting the focus from the society to the individual." - Robert Eldridge. Anatomy of Wonder (1976) 2-110 and (1981) 1-119. Barron (ed), Fantasy Literature 3-223. Bleiler, The Guide to Supernatural Fiction 1031. Clareson, Science Fiction in America, 1870s-1930s 518. Locke, A Spectrum of Fantasy, p. 142. Schlobin, The Literature of Fantasy 674. Survey of Science Fiction Literature V, pp. 2159-62. In 333. Bleiler (1978), p. 126. Reginald 09153. BAL 11962. Baird and Greenwood, An Annotated Bibliography of California Fiction 1664-1970 1544. Slight spine lean, a bright, nearly fine copy. An attractive, much better than average copy of a book rarely found in nice condition. (#165369).
Price: $850.00
"Published 1915" on copyright page.