Nov 10, 2015 - Sale 2397

Sale 2397 - Lot 559

Price Realized: $ 3,750
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 2,500 - $ 3,500
WELLS, H.G. The Time Machine. Frontispiece illustration and tissue-guard. 1-page advertisement on verso of half-title; 6 pages of additional advertisements at end. 16mo, original tan buckram, stamped and lettered in purple, spine darkened, scattered soiling, corners bumped; top edges gilt, others untrimmed; closed tear on final blank, Herbert O. Stetson bookplate to front pastedown with his penciled signature on front flyleaf. New York: Henry Holt, 1895

Additional Details

first edition, first issue of the author's first novel. Precedes the English edition by several months and with textual differences. Currey's first printing and (A) state binding with author's name misprinted "H.S. Wells" on the title-page (and in the "Author's Note" following title). Later issues were bound in red or maroon cloth with Wells' name corrected. "The Time Machine might be considered the first work of modern science-fiction, and it is still the classic statement of an important subgenre. A remarkable work, and necessary reading" (Bleiler, Science-Fiction 2325). Currey, p.524.