THE GREAT WAR SYNDICATE. New York: P. F. Collier, Publisher, 1889. Octavo, pp. [1-2] 3 [4] 5-111 [112: blank], illustrations, maps and diagrams in the text, original pictorial tan wrappers printed in red. First U.S. (and first illustrated) edition. According to BAL, the first edition was published in London by Longmans, Green and Co. in January 1889 in three formats: boards, cloth-backed boards, and paper wrappers. The first American edition was published by P. F. Collier in March 1889. The Collier edition, printed on wood pulp paper, was issued only in a paper binding. An important early American contribution to the future war motif. A syndicate of American businessmen directs a war against Great Britain. Use of advanced weapons, including a "motor bomb" (a sort of jet-propelled shell with tremendous explosive force), compels the British to sue for peace. An Anglo-American alliance is formed to outlaw all war. Anatomy of Wonder (1976) 2-143; (1981) 1-155; (1987) 1-88; (1995) 1-88; and (2004) II-1089. Bleiler, Science-Fiction: The Early Years 2104. Clareson, The Emergence of American Science Fiction: 1880-1915, pp. 262-65. Clareson, Science Fiction in America, 1870s-1930s 728. Clarke, Tale of the Future (1978), p. 15. Locke, A Spectrum of Fantasy, p. 207 (describing the UK edition). Roemer, The Obsolete Necessity, pp. 187-88. Sargent, British and American Utopian Literature, 1516-1985, p. 83. Suvin, Victorian Science Fiction in the UK, p. 39. Bleiler (1978), p. 187. Reginald 13715. BAL 18895 (wrapper is noted printing 1). Wright (III) 5239. Small chips from wrapper at spine ends, tiny chip from lower front corner tip, small chip and associated closed tear at bottom spine fold of rear cover, wrappers soiled and a bit rubbed, text block a bit darkened, but paper is clean and flexible, a very good copy of a fragile book. (#95806).
Price: $250.00
No statement of printing on copyright page.