THE REPUBLIC OF THE SOUTHERN CROSS AND OTHER STORIES ... With an Introductory Essay by Stephen Graham. New York: Robert M. McBride & Company, 1919. Octavo, pp. [i-iv] v-xiii [xiv-xvi] [1] 2-162 [163: printer's imprint] [164: blank], original green cloth, printed paper label affixed to spine panel, fore and bottom edges untrimmed. First edition in English, U.S. issue. The title novella, a fine anti-utopian fiction, is generally acknowledged to be the author's best fictional work. "A very unusual impressionistic story, with an atmosphere like that in the work of Luis Borges." - Bleiler, Science-Fiction: The Early Years 287. "... a novel depicting a benevolent, efficient, but overly regulated society, which is torn asunder by an epidemic of incurable Mania Contradiceus. The disease drives its victims to do the opposite of what is logical or expected ... People crack under the tension, and the formerly well-ordered republic soon becomes a madhouse." - Berger, Science Fiction and the New Dark Age, p. 209. Anatomy of Wonder (2004) II-177. Clarke, Tale of the Future (1978), p. 46. Locke, A Spectrum of Fantasy, p. 42. Negley, Utopian Literature: A Bibliography 146. Survey of Science Fiction Literature IV, pp. 1768-74. Bleiler (1978), p. 33. Reginald 01901. A fine copy in very good printed dust jacket with wear along top and bottom edges. (#170699).
Price: $150.00
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