A MODERN UTOPIA

Wells, H[erbert] G[eorge]

Published by Chapman & Hall, London, 1905

About this Item

Octavo, pp. [i-iv] v-xi [xii] 1-392 [393] [394-396: blank] [note: last leaf is a blank], seven inserted plates with illustrations by Edmund J. Sullivan, original decorated red cloth, front and spine panels stamped in gold, t.e.g., other edges rough-trimmed. First edition. The third of Wells's four books on modern socialism and his predictions on the social and economic world, preceded by ANTICIPATIONS (1901) and MANKIND IN THE MAKING (1903) and followed by NEW WORLDS FOR OLD (1908). "THE FOOD OF THE GODS was followed in 1905 by an explicit attempt at utopian design, A MODERN UTOPIA, whose presentation is a peculiar amalgam of essay and fiction. In an introductory note Wells offers it as the concluding work in a series begun with ANTICIPATIONS (1901) and continued with MANKIND IN THE MAKING (1903), a polemic on the appropriate nurture and education of the citizens of the future. It presents an image of an alternate world (incarnated for convenience on a hypothetical planet 'far in the deeps of space') run by the New Republicans of ANTICIPATIONS, here formalized into an Order of Samurai. Of the other developing social classes mentioned in ANTICIPATIONS, 'the element of irresponsible property' has been eliminated; the 'non-productive' speculators have been banished; and the poor inessential toilers are a dwindling minority of educational failures." - Stableford, Scientific Romance in Britain 1890-1950, p. 70 ". differs from earlier utopias in its emphasis upon the improvement of the race through the control of evolutionary development." - J. O. Bailey, Pilgrims Through Space and Time, p. 92. The impact of A MODERN UTOPIA was enormous, "winning him new admiration from such intellectuals as Henry James, Joseph Conrad, and William James, who said he had 'given a shove to the practical thought of the next generation.'" - Jack Williamson, H. G. Wells: Critic of Progress, pp. 121-5. Anatomy of Wonder (1976) 2-168; (1981) 1-177; (1987) 1-101; and (1995) 1-101. Clareson, Science Fiction in America, 1870s-1930s 799. Gerber, Utopian Literature (1973), p. 144. Lewis, Utopian Literature, p. 206. Locke, A Spectrum of Fantasy, p. 227. Negley, Utopian Literature 1178. Sargent, British and American Utopian Literature, 1516-1985, p. 133. Stableford, Scientific Romance in Britain 1890-1950, pp. 70-1. Survey of Science Fiction Literature III, pp. 1429-34. Wells 25. Hammond E5. Wells Society 25. Early owner's name in ink on front free endpaper. Spine panel a trifle sunned, endpapers (made up from pulp paper stock) age-darkened with heavy offset on recto of first leaf and verso of last leaf, text block foxed (nearly inevitable with this book), externally a clean, bright copy. A very nice copy overall. (#78019). Seller Inventory # 78019

Bibliographic Details

Title: A MODERN UTOPIA

Publisher: Chapman & Hall, London

Publication Date: 1905

Binding: Hardcover

Edition: 1st Edition