THE AURORAPHONE: A ROMANCE. Chicago: Charles H. Kerr & Company, 1890. Octavo, pp. [1-5] 6 [7-10] 11-249 [250-256: blank], fly leaf at front, publisher's pictorial mustard cloth, front panel stamped in brown and gold, spine panel stamped in gold, green floral patterned endpapers.173026. First edition. Travelers in the Colorado Rockies come across a strange device that allows communication from Saturn, a world whose society and technology are much advanced over those of the earth. "A miraculous invention establishes communication with a Saturnian who describes the history of his nation, which mirrors America until a religious hero appears and proves the 'transmigration' of all experience. The population is reformed, and progress is interrupted only by a war between robots and man: a fearful result of over dependence on technology." - Roemer, The Obsolete Necessity, p. 188. "Eccentric novel with elements of social theory, cosmology, and pneumatology ... Imaginative, with many odd and interesting ideas, but without the literary skill or mental discipline to develop them properly." - Bleiler, Science-Fiction: The Early Years 445. For a lengthy discussion of the novel see Ben Fuson, "Three Kansas Utopian Novels of 1890," Extrapolation, XII (December 1970, vol 12, #1), pp. 7-24. Clareson, Science Fiction in America, 1870s-1930s 172. Locke, A Spectrum of Fantasy I, p. 54. Negley, Utopian Literature 220. Rooney, Dreams and Visions: A Study of American Utopias, 1865-1917, p. 185. Bleiler (1978), p. 45. Reginald 03164. Wright (III) 1142. Not in Sargent or Lewis. A ex-library copy with the bookplate of the Young Women's Christian Association of Lancaster, Pa affixed to the front paste-down. Cloth lightly worn at spine ends and corner tips, remnant of a small label pasted to the spine panel and part of a pocket attached to the rear paste-down, ink stain on rear cover, still a very good copy of a scarce book. (#173026).
Price: $850.00
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