BREAKING UP OR THE BIRTH, DEVELOPMENT AND DEATH OF THE EARTH AND ITS SATELLITE IN STORY. Boston: J. E. Farwell & Co., Printers, 1896. Octavo, pp. [1-7] 8-247 [248: blank], original decorated brown cloth, front and spine panels stamped in gold, light brown floral patterned endpapers. First edition. Presentation copy with signed inscription by Richards on the recto of the "introduction" leaf with the name of the recipient neatly clipped off. "The spirits of some beings from a planet round Sirius witness the birth and death of the earth and moon. A fictionalized essay which includes a description of life on the moon." - Locke, A Spectrum of Fantasy, p. 182. "Fictionalized history of the earth in an astronomical-geological sense; partly conventional science, partly crank ... Probably written in imitation of Flammarion's work." - Bleiler, Science-Fiction: The Early Years 1869. Locke, Voyages in Space 178. Reginald 12212. Wright (III) 4532. Not in Bleiler (1948; 1978). Bookplate of Estes Nichols, M. D. on the front paste-down. A bright, very good copy. A scarce book. (#167242).
Price: $350.00
No statement of printing.