THE FALL OF ENGLAND? THE BATTLE OF DORKING: REMINISCENCES OF A VOLUNTEER. By a Contributor to "Blackwood." New York: G. P. Putnam & Sons, 1871. 12mo, pp. [1-2] [1-5] 6-66 [1: blank] 2-5: ads [first leaf is a blank], original green cloth. front panel stamped gold and blind, rear panel stamped in blind, salmon endpapers. First U.S. 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 02919B. Old owner's signature on the first blank. A very good copy. A lovely copy of this book. (#167393).
Price: $350.00
No statement of printing. The presumed second printing has "Second edition" printed on front wrapper.