(#80714) THE COMING RACE. Edward George Earle Lytton Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Baron Lytton.
THE COMING RACE.

THE COMING RACE. Edinburgh and London: William Blackwood and Sons, MDCCCLXXI [1871]. Octavo, pp. [1-6] [1] 2-292 [note: dedication leaf is an inset], original decorated orange red cloth, spine and front panels stamped in black and gold, rear panel stamped in blind, brown coated endpapers, top edge untrimmed, other edges rough trimmed. First edition. The narrator visits a subterranean race in the Earth's interior that has reached a high level of civilization and scientific advancement. This popular novel and several others published in 1871 and 1872 "sparked the publishing revival of an SF suggesting, but also warning against, significantly different relations and fusing new gadgetry with sentimental and / or horrific melodrama." - Suvin, Victorian Science Fiction in the UK, p. 14. "As fiction, THE COMING RACE is more readable than much of Bulwer's other work. As idea, very thought provoking. As historical influence, enormously important." - Bleiler, Science Fiction: The Early Years 298. "The last of Bulwer's occult novels, synthesizing many of the themes earlier tested in ZANONI and A STRANGE STORY ... Predicts atomic power as a weapon. Comparable to Swift and H. G. Wells." - Wolff 925a. Anatomy of Wonder (1976) 1-25; (1981) 1-120; (1987) 1-61; (1995) 1-61; and (2004) II-688. Clareson, Science Fiction in America, 1870s-1930s 521. Lewis, Utopian Literature, p. 31. Locke, A Spectrum of Fantasy, p. 145. Negley, Utopian Literature: A Bibliography 716. Sargent, British and American Utopian Literature, 1516-1985, p. 59. Survey of Science Fiction Literature I, pp. 418-21. Wolff, Strange Stories, pp. 323-33. Bleiler (1978), p. 34. Reginald 09370. Sadleir 393. Early owner's signature and 1871 date on the front free endpaper. Just a touch of wear at lower spine end, spine panel a bit darkened, a bit of dust soiling to cloth, small, faint stain on front cover, overall, a bright, tight, nearly fine copy. A lovely, superior copy of a scarce and important high spot of early science fiction literature. (#80714).

Price: $3,500.00

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