“THREE THOUSAND YEARS AGO THIS WAS A WORLD LIKE OURS”: FIRST EDITION OF H.G. WELLS’ UTOPIAN NOVEL MEN LIKE GODS, INSCRIBED BY WELLS

WELLS, H.G. Men Like Gods. London: Cassell, (1923). Octavo, original green cloth. $4800.

First edition of this novel of a "Liberal journalist's encounter with Utopia," inscribed by Wells on the half title with a flourish, "Lancelot. H.G.W."

"Concerns a demoralized journalist named Barnstaple who sets off in search of a rest cure. Thanks to a kink in the fabric of space-time, he instead enters another dimension, accompanied by a number of familiar-looking figures: Rupert Catskill (Churchill), Freddy Mush (Edward Marsh), Cecil Burleigh (Balfour), Lord Barralonga (possibly Beaverbrook) and Father Amerton (just possibly Belloc). Finding themselves in a pastoral world… and horrified at the socialistic immorality of it all, the other Earthlings attempt an armed coup. The utopians destroy them, then restore Barnstaple to his native era with his spirit renewed by the vision of paradise he has glimpsed" (Sherborne, 266). "This story was first printed serially in The Westminster Gazette (Dec. 1922-Feb. 1923). It is notable for its caricatures of Arthur Balfour, Winston Churchill and Edward Marsh" (Hammond). Without scarce original dust jacket. In Curry's binding A, with probable priority, with "Cassell" stamped in gold on spine. Hammond B13. Wells 80. Wells Society Bibliography 85. Curry, 421. The recipient of this copy is most likely British zoologist Lancelot Thomas Hogben. In 1923, the year this book was published and inscribed, Hogben was one of the three founders of the Society for Experimental Biology, which received an endorsement from Wells. (One of the other founders was Julian Huxley, brother of the writer Aldous Huxley and the grandson of biologist T.H. Huxley, who taught Wells biology. Julian would go on to write a book with Wells and his son, the biologist G.P. Wells—The Science of Life—in 1929-30).

Interior fine, spine of original cloth toned. A handsome inscribed copy.