Select Conversations with an Uncle (now Extinct) and Two other Reminiscences.

FIRST EDITION, title-page engraved by T.H.T., pp. [x], 117, 16 (ads, dated 1895), foolscap 8vo, original silver-pink watered silk, backstrip lettered in gilt and darkened with rubbing at ends and along joints, covers a little soiled, t.e.g., others untrimmed, good. A family presentation copy of Wells' third book - his first to contain fictional work - inscribed by the author on the blank preceding half-title, to 'M.C. Robbins, from H.G. Wells'; beneath the inscription, Wells has drawn a sketch of waves lapping against a house, dated to 'Sandgate, Xmas 1898'. The recipient is his mother-in-law, and its form speaks of the slightly formal relationship that was still being maintained between them (later inscriptions convey more familiarity and affection) - Wells had moved in 1898, with Robbins' daughter (his second wife, Jane), to Sandgate in Kent. One of around 650 copies in the edition; as is commonly found, the third leaf of ads has been removed to banish the error of spelling Edmund Gosse as 'Edmund Goose'. (Wells 3: 'Wells Society' 3).…