The Angel of the Revolution

Publication: London, Tower Publishing Company Limited, 1894 Formatting: 8vo, pp. [viii], 393, [1]. Condition Report: Very Good. The binding remains sturdy and reasonably tight, though the book displays a slight forward lean. The original blue cloth features strikingly bright and crisp gilt and black pictorial tooling to the front board, which remains highly attractive. However, the spine is somewhat darkened and rubbed, with fraying and bumping to the head and tail cloth. The rear board exhibits a noticeable circular cup ring mark alongside general handling wear and faint surface marking. The corners are slightly bumped and rubbed. Internally, the text block edges are toned and untrimmed, with some dust-darkening to the top edge. The pages show scattered foxing and age-toning, primarily affecting the preliminaries and endpapers. A few pages display slight handling marks, but the text remains highly legible, and the illustrated plates remain secure. Overall, a solid, attractive copy with expected wear for a Victorian science-fiction volume. Catalogue Note: This is the Third Edition of Griffith's highly successful and influential science fiction debut. The volume features a frontispiece by E. S. Hope and is noted on the title page as being heavily illustrated by Fred. T. Jane (the famed creator of Jane's Fighting Ships). The book is dedicated to Cyril Arthur Pearson, who originally encouraged the writing of the story for serialisation in Pearson's Weekly. This early printing retains the identical striking pictorial binding and complete illustrations. Secondary printings in their original publisher's cloth are surprisingly scarce on the open market, as these popular adventure tales were frequently read to pieces or subsequently rebound. Blurb: A thrilling mix of Jules Verne's futuristic airship fantasies and utopian political ideology, The Angel of the Revolution follows the brilliant young inventor Richard Arnold. Having perfected the technology for a heavier-than-air flying ship in 1903, Arnold joins forces with 'The Brotherhood of Freedom', a worldwide organisation of anarchists, socialists, and nihilists, popularly known as the Terror. Commanded by a mysterious Russian master, Natas, and his daughter, the beautiful 'Angel' Natasha, the Brotherhood unleash a devastating fleet of airships to intervene in an apocalyptic global war between the European powers, ultimately seeking to establish a lasting world peace, a 'pax aeronautica,' under their utopian rule.…