THE POLYPHEMES: A STORY OF STRANGE ADVENTURES AMONG STRANGE BEINGS.

Published by Ward, London, 1906

  • First Edition
  • Hardcover
  • Used
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Seller: Currey, L.W. Inc. ABAA/ILAB, Elizabethtown, NY, U.S.A.Currey, L.W. Inc. ABAA/ILAB

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Hardcover

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Item description from seller

Octavo, pp. [1-4] 5-318 [319-321: ads for "Works of E. Phillips Oppenheim"], inserted frontispiece with illustration by Harold Piffard, publisher's pictorial blue cloth, front and spine panels stamped in yellow, brown, black and gold, fore and bottom edges rough trimmed. First edition. A highly imaginative Wellsian science fiction novel most likely intended as a satire on British boys' adventure fiction and European imperialism. The Polyphemes, a race of ant-like creatures of high intelligence inhabiting unknown islands in the Pacific Ocean, discover, by use of an airship, the existence of the human race and attacks it. Mankind is no match for insects who possess sophisticated weaponry and the secret of atomic power, but ultimately is spared when the Polypheme masses attack their corrupt priesthood and all are annihilated by a cataclysmic explosion. George Locke (in A Spectrum of Fantasy) perceptively notes that this story is a lost race novel in reverse. Anatomy of Wonder (2004) II-527. Bleiler, Science-Fiction: The Early Years 1906. Clareson, Science Fiction in America, 1870s-1930s 414. Clarke, Tale of the Future (1978), p. 32. Locke, A Spectrum of Fantasy, p. 123. Negley, Utopian Literature: A Bibliography 621. Teitler and Locke, By the World Forgot (2013) 608. Bleiler (1978), p. 98. Reginald 07136. Cloth lightly worn at lower spine end and corner tips, endpapers tanned, occasional foxing throughout, a sound, good copy. Among the more striking Edwardian illustrated bindings with front panel depicting an aerial battle between human and Polypheme lighter than air dreadnoughts (reproducing in color the frontispiece halftone illustration by Harold Piffard) and spine panel portraying captive human in grip of giant ant-like Polypheme. (#174211).

Seller Inventory # 174211

Bibliographic details

Title
THE POLYPHEMES: A STORY OF STRANGE ADVENTURES AMONG STRANGE BEINGS.
Author
Hernaman-Johnson, F[rancis]
Publisher
Ward, London
Publication year
1906
Binding
Hardcover
Edition
1st Edition
Seller catalogs
Lost Race, Tale of the Future, Utopian Literature

Currey, L.W. Inc. ABAA/ILAB

Elizabethtown, NY, U.S.A.

5-star seller

AbeBooks seller since October 13, 2022

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19th & 20th century literary first editions, fantasy & horror lit., science fiction

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L. W. Currey, Inc.

203 Water St
Elizabethtown, NY U.S.A. 12932