ON A LARK TO THE PLANETS. A SEQUEL TO "THE WONDERFUL ELECTRIC ELEPHANT" Akron, Ohio, New York, Chicago: The Saalfield Publishing Co., 1904. Octavo, pp. [5-11] 12-180 [note: text complete despite gap in pagination], seven inserted plates with illustrations in color by Winifred D. Elrod, original pictorial blue cloth, front panel stamped in black and silver, spine panel stamped in silver, First edition. A sequel to THE WONDERFUL ELECTRIC ELEPHANT (1903) in which the young protagonists travel to the planets in a balloon attached to the mechanical elephant. Several of the planets visited are utopian (Venus; Jupiter; Uranus), others dystopian (Mars is warlike, Saturn the literal Hell where Earth people are tortured). The whole is a curious mixture of science, fantasy and mythology. Bleiler, Science-Fiction: The Early Years 1535. Clareson, Science Fiction in America, 1870s-1930s 578. Locke, A Spectrum of Fantasy, p. 160. Locke, Voyages in Space 148. Bleiler (1978), p. 142. Reginald 10244. Smith, American Fiction, 1901-1925 M-923. Christmas gift inscription dated 1906 on the front free endpaper and the recipient's attractive bookplate on the front paste-down. Light wear at spine ends and corner tips, else a bright, very good copy. A nice copy of this attractive children's fantasy with all the color plates present. (#170205).
Price: $350.00
No statement of printing on copyright page.