The Difference Engine (first edition signed by Sterling)

William Gibson; Bruce Sterling

ISBN 10: 0553070282 / ISBN 13: 9780553070286

Published by Bantam Spectra, 1991

About this Item

A first edition, a first printing with full number line. Signed by Sterling on title page. A fine copy in a fine DJ, protected by a removable mylar cover. See my photos of the book you will receive, not stock photos. More available upon request. This book is in my possession and will be packed in bubble wrap and shipped in a cardboard box. USPS tracking provided. #101.

Seller Inventory # 024166

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The Difference Engine (first edition signed by Sterling)
• Publisher: Bantam Spectra
• Publication Date: 1991
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0553070282
• ISBN 13: 9780553070286
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: 1st Edition
• Printing: 1st Printing
• Condition: Fine
• Dust Jacket Condition: Fine
• Signed: Signed by Author(s)

About this title

Synopsis

In London of 1855, celebrated paleontologist Edward Mallory gets mixed up with Charles Babbage, the inventor of an advanced calculating machine run by his elite group of clackers

Reviews

In a surprising departure from the traditional view of cyberpunk's bleak future, Gibson ( Mona Lisa Overdrive ) and Sterling ( Islands in the Net ) render with elan and colorful detail a scientifically advanced London, circa 1855, where computers ("Engines") have been developed. Fierce summer heat and pollution have driven out the ruling class, and ensuing anarchy allows the subversive, technology-hating Luddites to surface and battle the intellectual elite. Much of the problem centers on a set of perforated cards, once in the possession of an executed Luddite leader's daughter, later in the hands of "Queen of Engines" Ada Byron (daughter of prime minister Lord Byron), finally given to Edward Mallory, a scientist. Mallory, who knows the cards are a gambling device that can be read with a specialized Engine, is soon threatened and libeled by the Luddites, and he and his associates confront the scoundrels in a violent showdown. A sometimes listless pace and limp conclusions that defy the plot's complexity flaw an otherwise visionary, handsomely written, unsentimental tale that convincingly revises the 19th-century Western world. 75,000 first printing; $75,000 ad/promo.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

In a Victorian England run by steam-powered computing engines and governed by an intellectual elite led by Prime Minister Byron, an ambitious young paleontologist comes into possession of a dangerous set of program cards and begins running for his life. This first collaboration between cyberpunk legends Gibson ( Neuroman cer , Ace, 1984) and Sterling ( Islands in the Net, LJ 6/15/88) represents an ingenious (though not entirely successful) tour-de-force, as cyberpunk and the Victorian adventure novel meet with a vengeance. Recommended.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.