MR. STRANGER'S SEALED PACKET. London: Chatto & Windus, 1889. Octavo, pp. [i-iii] iv [1] 2-338 [339: publisher's colophon] [340: blank] + 32-page publisher's catalogue dated "April, 1889" inserted at rear, original decorated tan cloth, front and rear panels stamped in black, pink and red, spine panel stamped in black, pink and gold, top edge untrimmed, decorated white endpapers with floral pattern printed in gray. First edition. "An interplanetary science fiction novel, written by a mathematician, in the classic British mode of Greg's ACROSS THE ZODIAC. The protagonist travels to Mars in an electrically controlled antigravity spacecraft and undergoes adventures among its denizens." - Locke, Voyages in Space 136. "Clearly influenced Wells, but also a precursor of E. R. Burroughs." - Suvin, Victorian Science Fiction in the UK, p. 38-9. "Literate, but diffuse, and weakly plotted. If condensed, it would be one of the better of the interplanetaries of the day." - Bleiler, Science-Fiction: The Early Years 1390. "MR. STRANGER'S SEALED PACKET is not a particularly exciting adventure story, but the fact that it is an adventure story and nothing more places it at the head of what was ultimately to become a solid if not very prolific tradition of British interplanetary romances virtually devoid of any Utopian impulse." - Stableford, New Atlantis II, pp. 172-3. Anatomy of Wonder (2004) II-690. Locke, A Spectrum of Fantasy, p. 146. Locke, Voyages in Space (2011) V 449. Sargent, British and American Utopian Literature, 1516-1985, p. 81. Bleiler (1978), p. 129. Reginald 09418. Early owner's signature dated July 1889 at top fore-edge corner on the verso of the title leaf. Spine lean (common to this book), spine panel just a bit darkened, pink on spine faded, 20 mm closed tear along lower outer front joint, a clean, tight, very good copy. A superior copy a very scarce book rarely found in decent condition. Truly stunning condition for this book, the second best copy we have seen. (#165856).
Price: $2,500.00
No statement of printing.