2011, ISBN: e95f7e5f7609fad58f542cc9a8e86c12

London: John Van Voorst, 1850. Small octavo, pp. [1-2] [i-iii] iv [v] vi-ix [x] [1] 2-234, frontispiece, nineteenth-century three-quarter calf and marbled boards, spine panel tooled in g… Mehr…

London: John Van Voorst, 1850. Small octavo, pp. [1-2] [i-iii] iv [v] vi-ix [x] [1] 2-234, frontispiece, nineteenth-century three-quarter calf and marbled boards, spine panel tooled in gold, black leather title piece. First edition. An important work of proto-science fiction that illustrates human visual perception. Various creatures, a bee, an ant, a spider, a robin, and others, ask a penniless artist to paint a "new thing" each has seen, based on its own perception of the object. The artist does so and the object turns out to be a lost sovereign that he uses to hold a one-man show which is a huge success. This is the book famously reviewed by William Watson in his A LITTLE EARNEST BOOK ON A GREAT OLD SUBJECT; OR CHAPTERS ON POETRY AND POETS, published in 1851 which includes the first use of the phrase "science fiction." Wilson opens his review of Horne's book as follows: "Fiction has lately been chosen as a means of familiarizing science in one single case only [the Horne book] ... We hope it will not be long before we may have other works of Science-Fiction, as we believe such books likely to fulfill a good purpose, and create an interest, where, unhappily, science alone might fail." "A very unusual book, reasonably successful in achieving its aims, and certainly a document in the history of SF worthy of at least a footnote by academia." - Locke, A Spectrum of Fantasy Volume III, p. 8. See Aldiss and Wingrove, TRILLION YEAR SPREE, p. 461. Not in Bleiler (1948; 1978), Reginald (1979; 1992), or Suvin (1983). Ex-Cambridge, England, "Union Society" library with their bookplate affixed to the front paste-down, and their circular ownership stamp on the title page and several text pages. Binding quite rubbed but sound, internally tight and clean, a very good copy overall. COPAC reports 7 copies. OCLC reports no copies of this edition. A rare book. (#156280), John Van Voorst, 1850, 0, London: Printed for D. Wilson, 1753. 12mo, pp. [1-2] [1] 2-252; collates [A]2, B-I12, K-L12, M6, rebound in full antique calf, front and rear panels tooled in blind, spine panel tooled in gold, red leather title label affixed to spine panel. First edition in English. "In Micromegas, a gigantic visitor from one of the planets of Sirius and his hardly less gigantic friend from Saturn arrive on Earth. They lift a ship out of the Baltic. Holding it in the palm of one hand, the two giants examine it through a microscope and observe the human beings aboard, with whom they talk. Rabelais was probably an influence here; Swift is also mentioned; but the inversion of having a space journey done to Earth rather than from it is characteristically Voltairean; so is the conversation. In the end, the two enormous visitors present the creatures of Earth with a volume in which, they promise, the explanation of the universe will be found. When the secretary of the Academy of Sciences in Paris opens the volume, he finds it contains nothing but blank pages." - Aldiss and Wingrove, Trillion Year Spree, pp. 85-6. "The germinal 'visitor from other planets' story ..." - Locke, Voyages in Space 013. "A very amusing work, with ideas handled brilliantly and deftly." - Bleiler, Science-Fiction: The Early Years 2271. Anatomy of Wonder (1976) 1-50; (1981) 1-166; and (2004) II-1195. Barron, ed., Fantasy Literature 1-87. Clute and Nicholls, eds., The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction, pp. 1287-88. Gove, The Imaginary Voyage in Prose Fiction, pp. 333-34. Lewis, Utopian Literature, pp. 197-98. Ley, Rockets, Missiles, and Space Travel (1951), p. 25. Locke, A Spectrum of Fantasy, p. 220. Locke, Voyages in Space (2011) V668. Negley, Utopian Literature: A Bibliography 1147. Nicolson, Voyages to the Moon, pp. 214-19. Versins, Encyclopédie de l'Utopie, des Voyages Extraordinaires et de la Science Fiction, p. 940. Bleiler (1978), p. 200. Reginald 14719. Small chip from lower corner of leaf G1 just touching the catchword patched in. A handsome copy in well-executed period binding (aged with fake ink spots!). (#153234), Printed for D. Wilson, 1753, 0<

1753, ISBN: e95f7e5f7609fad58f542cc9a8e86c12

[SC: 11.66], [PU: London: Printed for D. Wilson, and T. Durham, 1753], BOOKS LITERATURE ECONOMICS & SOCIAL SCIENCES PHILOSOPHY IN OTHER LANGUAGES FRENCH LANGUAGE FANTASY, SCIENCE FICTION … Mehr…

[SC: 11.66], [PU: London: Printed for D. Wilson, and T. Durham, 1753], BOOKS LITERATURE ECONOMICS & SOCIAL SCIENCES PHILOSOPHY IN OTHER LANGUAGES FRENCH LANGUAGE FANTASY, SCIENCE FICTION AND GOTHIC ONLINE CATALOGUES CATALOGUE 164 ENLIGHTENMENT NOISBN, Duodecimo (165 x 99 mm). Recent calf, black morocco label. Binding in fine condition; original endpapers preserved with offset toning and peripheral nicking, contents lightly toned with occasional faint foxing, tiny burnholes marginally impinging a couple of letters to pp. 7/8 and 149/150, minor peripheral paper faults to pp. 25/26 and 171/172 not affecting text, large chip to pp. 201/202 with loss to text. A good copy. First edition in English of Voltaire's Micromegas, a significant work of proto-science fiction, detailing the visit of giants from Saturn and Sirius to earth, and their derision at mankind's wars, religions, and pretensions. The novella was first published in French the previous year, and is probably the first instance of aliens visiting Earth in fiction, which "inaugurated a tradition of superior aliens who come to lecture humans about the need to improve themselves" (Westfahl, The Greenwood Encyclopaedia of Science Fiction and Fantasy, vol. I., p. 17). The translation was undertaken anonymously by Tobias Smollett, and later republished in Smollett's edition of Voltaire's works. It follows the 1752 London edition in French - most probably the source for Smollett's translation - in including two pieces extracted from Voltaire's upcoming Essai sur les mœurs et l'esprit des nations (1756), fragments of which appeared in various publications from 1746 to 1756. These two pieces, the first on the Crusades and the latter a history of the human mind, are not related to the story, and were most likely included to increase the size of the book (Micromegas itself only 40 pages long) and to justify the cost of printing. With the bookplate to the front pastedown (transposed from its earlier binding) of Charles William Hamilton Sotheby (1820-1887), High Sheriff of Northamptonshire, son of the commander of the Royal Naval Academy Charles Sotheby, and grandson of the poet and translator William Sotheby. Anatomy of Wonder (1976) 1-50; Bleiler, Science-Fiction 2271; ESTC T137640; Howgego, V, V15a. For Smollett's role in translation see Brack, Chilton, & Keithley, Miscellaneous Writings of Tobias Smollett, pp. 83ff.<

1753, ISBN: e95f7e5f7609fad58f542cc9a8e86c12

[SC: 0.0], [PU: London: Printed for D. Wilson, and T. Durham, 1753], BOOKS LITERATURE ECONOMICS & SOCIAL SCIENCES PHILOSOPHY IN OTHER LANGUAGES FRENCH LANGUAGE FANTASY, SCIENCE FICTION AN… Mehr…

[SC: 0.0], [PU: London: Printed for D. Wilson, and T. Durham, 1753], BOOKS LITERATURE ECONOMICS & SOCIAL SCIENCES PHILOSOPHY IN OTHER LANGUAGES FRENCH LANGUAGE FANTASY, SCIENCE FICTION AND GOTHIC ONLINE CATALOGUES CATALOGUE 164 ENLIGHTENMENT NOISBN, Duodecimo (165 x 99 mm). Recent calf, black morocco label. Binding in fine condition; original endpapers preserved with offset toning and peripheral nicking, contents lightly toned with occasional faint foxing, tiny burnholes marginally impinging a couple of letters to pp. 7/8 and 149/150, minor peripheral paper faults to pp. 25/26 and 171/172 not affecting text, large chip to pp. 201/202 with loss to text. A good copy. First edition in English of Voltaire's Micromegas, a significant work of proto-science fiction, detailing the visit of giants from Saturn and Sirius to earth, and their derision at mankind's wars, religions, and pretensions. The novella was first published in French the previous year, and is probably the first instance of aliens visiting Earth in fiction, which "inaugurated a tradition of superior aliens who come to lecture humans about the need to improve themselves" (Westfahl, The Greenwood Encyclopaedia of Science Fiction and Fantasy, vol. I., p. 17). The translation was undertaken anonymously by Tobias Smollett, and later republished in Smollett's edition of Voltaire's works. It follows the 1752 London edition in French - most probably the source for Smollett's translation - in including two pieces extracted from Voltaire's upcoming Essai sur les mœurs et l'esprit des nations (1756), fragments of which appeared in various publications from 1746 to 1756. These two pieces, the first on the Crusades and the latter a history of the human mind, are not related to the story, and were most likely included to increase the size of the book (Micromegas itself only 40 pages long) and to justify the cost of printing. With the bookplate to the front pastedown (transposed from its earlier binding) of Charles William Hamilton Sotheby (1820-1887), High Sheriff of Northamptonshire, son of the commander of the Royal Naval Academy Charles Sotheby, and grandson of the poet and translator William Sotheby. Anatomy of Wonder (1976) 1-50; Bleiler, Science-Fiction 2271; ESTC T137640; Howgego, V, V15a. For Smollett's role in translation see Brack, Chilton, & Keithley, Miscellaneous Writings of Tobias Smollett, pp. 83ff.<

1753, ISBN: e95f7e5f7609fad58f542cc9a8e86c12

Gebundene Ausgabe

[PU: Printed for D. Wilson, London], INTERPLANETARY FICTION; SATIRICAL SF; UTOPIAN LITERATURE, 12mo, pp. [1-2] [1] 2-252; collates [A]2, B-I12, K-L12, M6, rebound in antique full paneled … Mehr…

[PU: Printed for D. Wilson, London], INTERPLANETARY FICTION; SATIRICAL SF; UTOPIAN LITERATURE, 12mo, pp. [1-2] [1] 2-252; collates [A]2, B-I12, K-L12, M6, rebound in antique full paneled calf tooled in blind, spine ruled in gold and tooled in blind, black leather author and title pieces. First edition in English. "In Micromegas, a gigantic visitor from one of the planets of Sirius and his hardly less gigantic friend from Saturn arrive on Earth. They lift a ship out of the Baltic. Holding it in the palm of one hand, the two giants examine it through a microscope and observe the human beings aboard, with whom they talk. Rabelais was probably an influence here; Swift is also mentioned; but the inversion of having a space journey done to Earth rather than from it is characteristically Voltairean; so is the conversation. In the end, the two enormous visitors present the creatures of Earth with a volume in which, they promise, the explanation of the universe will be found. When the secretary of the Academy of Sciences in Paris opens the volume, he finds it contains nothing but blank pages." - Aldiss and Wingrove, Trillion Year Spree, pp. 85-6. "The germinal 'visitor from other planets' story ." - Locke, Voyages in Space 013. "A very amusing work, with ideas handled brilliantly and deftly."- Bleiler, Science-Fiction: The Early Years 2271. Anatomy of Wonder (1976) 1-50; (1981) 1-166; and (2004) II-1195. Barron, ed., Fantasy Literature 1-87. Clute and Nicholls, eds., The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction, pp. 1287-88. Gove, The Imaginary Voyage in Prose Fiction, pp. 333-34. Lewis, Utopian Literature, pp. 197-98. Ley, Rockets, Missiles, and Space Travel (1951), p. 25. Locke, A Spectrum of Fantasy, p. 220. Locke, Voyages in Space (2011) V668. Negley, Utopian Literature: A Bibliography 1147. Nicolson, Voyages to the Moon, pp. 214-19. Versins, Encyclopédie de l'Utopie, des Voyages Extraordinaires et de la Science Fiction, p. 940. Bleiler (1978), p. 200. Reginald 14719. Scattered marginalia in an early hand. Leaf E1 (pages 73-74) supplied in facsimile. A very good, externally fine copy. Rebound to style, resewn with new linen hinges, new sewn headbands and new endpapers. (#89987)<

1753, ISBN: e95f7e5f7609fad58f542cc9a8e86c12

Gebundene Ausgabe

[PU: Printed for D. Wilson, London], INTERPLANETARY FICTION; SATIRICAL SF; UTOPIAN LITERATURE, 12mo, pp. [1-2] [1] 2-252; collates [A]2, B-I12, K-L12, M6, recent paneled calf tooled in bl… Mehr…

[PU: Printed for D. Wilson, London], INTERPLANETARY FICTION; SATIRICAL SF; UTOPIAN LITERATURE, 12mo, pp. [1-2] [1] 2-252; collates [A]2, B-I12, K-L12, M6, recent paneled calf tooled in blind, spine ruled in gold and tooled in blind, black leather author and title pieces. First edition in English. "In Micromegas, a gigantic visitor from one of the planets of Sirius and his hardly less gigantic friend from Saturn arrive on Earth. They lift a ship out of the Baltic. Holding it in the palm of one hand, the two giants examine it through a microscope and observe the human beings aboard, with whom they talk. Rabelais was probably an influence here; Swift is also mentioned; but the inversion of having a space journey done to Earth rather than from it is characteristically Voltairean; so is the conversation. In the end, the two enormous visitors present the creatures of Earth with a volume in which, they promise, the explanation of the universe will be found. When the secretary of the Academy of Sciences in Paris opens the volume, he finds it contains nothing but blank pages." - Aldiss and Wingrove, Trillion Year Spree, pp. 85-6. "The germinal 'visitor from other planets' story ." - Locke, Voyages in Space 013. "A very amusing work, with ideas handled brilliantly and deftly." - Bleiler, Science-Fiction: The Early Years 2271. Anatomy of Wonder (1976) 1-50; (1981) 1-166; and (2004) II-1195. Barron, ed., Fantasy Literature 1-87. Clute and Nicholls, eds., The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction, pp. 1287-88. Gove, The Imaginary Voyage in Prose Fiction, pp. 333-34. Lewis, Utopian Literature, pp. 197-98. Ley, Rockets, Missiles, and Space Travel (1951), p. 25. Locke, A Spectrum of Fantasy, p. 220. Locke, Voyages in Space (2011) V668. Negley, Utopian Literature: A Bibliography 1147. Nicolson, Voyages to the Moon, pp. 214-19. Versins, Encyclopédie de l'Utopie, des Voyages Extraordinaires et de la Science Fiction, p. 940. Bleiler (1978), p. 200. Reginald 14719. Text block clean, a very good, externally fine copy. Rebound to style, re-sewn with new linen hinges, new sewn headbands and new endpapers. (#137390)<