A DIVERSITY OF CREATURES. London: Macmillan and Co., Limited, 1917. Octavo, pp. [i-iv] v [vi] vii-viii 1-441 [442] [443-444: blank] [445-448: ads], title page printed in red and black, original red cloth, Ganesha device stamped in gold on front panel, spine panel lettered in gold, t.e.g. First edition. A mixed collection of fourteen stories and fourteen poems. Includes the first book appearance of the long tale of the future, "As Easy as A.B.C." (the sequel to "With the Night Mail") first published in FAMILY MAGAZINE in 1912. "The future world is dominated by the Ariel Board of Control, which regulates the movements of massive dirigible airships ... [This story] set in 2065, offers a more elaborate account of a society anxiously preoccupied with Malthusian problems and Marxian class conflict ... [In this] story the dictatorial A.B.C. sends a new aircraft to sort out a rebellion in Illinois" (Anatomy of Wonder [2004] II-603). Also collects "In the Same Boat" (1911), a tale "of psychic horrors which becomes rationalized fantasy," and "Swept and Garnished" (1915), "Kipling's grimmest supernatural fiction" (Clute and Grant). Anatomy of Wonder (1981) 1-110; (1987) 1-55; (1995) 1-55 and(2004) II-603. Bleiler, Science-Fiction: The Early Years 1235. Clarke, Tale of the Future (1978), p. 46. Clute and Grant (eds), The Encyclopedia of Fantasy, p. 541. Clute and Nicholls (eds), The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction, p. 670. Gerber, Utopian Fantasy (1973), p. 146. Negley, Utopian Literature: A Bibliography 641. Sargent, British and American Utopian Literature, 1516-1985, p. 152. Survey of Science Fiction Literature V, pp. 2053-54. Bleiler (1978), p. 115. Stewart 408. Hairline crack along inner front hinge repaired, else a fine, bright copy. Bookplate of Indiana novelist George Barr McCutcheon (1866-1928) affixed to front paste-down. (#75586).
Price: $100.00
No statement of printing on copyright page.