THE BATTLE OF DORKING: REMINISCENCES OF A VOLUNTEER. FROM BLACKWOOD'S MAGAZINE MAY 1871. Edinburgh and London: William Blackwood and Sons, 1871. Small octavo, pp. [1-3] 4-64 [1] 2-8: ads, original pictorial purple wrappers. First edition. The most influential future war story. "Before Chesney there had been little effective method in the few tales of the war-to-come that had appeared. After Chesney there were very few of these tales that did not employ the devices that had alarmed a nation, amazed a continent, and annoyed the Prime Minister." – Clarke, Voices..., p. 34. "The first significant British imaginary war story and also the finest and most influential example of the subgenre." – Bleiler, Science-Fiction: The Early Years 412. Anatomy of Wonder (1981) 1-41; (1987) 1-21; (1995) 1-21; and (2004) II-237. Clarke, Tale of the Future (1978), p. 5. Clarke, Voices Prophesying War: Future Wars 1763-3749 (1992), pp. [27]-56. Clareson, Science-Fiction in America, 1870s-1930s 155. Locke, A Spectrum of Fantasy, p. 13 (recording the British edition). Survey of Science Fiction Literature I, pp. 130-32. Suvin, Victorian Science Fiction in the UK, pp. 14-15. Bleiler (1978), p. 42. Reginald 02919C. Wrappers faded, most of the spine panel missing, worn at edges with slight loss at corners, minor dog-ears to corners of wrapper and several text leaves, illustration on front wrapper partially hand colored, a good copy. (#167276).
Price: $150.00
The presumed first issue has no copyright notice on the title page