The War in the Air, and Particularly How Mr. Bert Smallways Fared While It Lasted

London: George Bell and Sons, 1908. First Edition. First Impression. Octavo (19.75cm); Currey's A binding in blue cloth, with titling and decorations stamped in gilt on spine and front cover, and publisher's imprint reading "George Bell & Sons" at base of spine; viii,390 + [2]pp ads; with frontispiece and 14 plates of illustrations by A.C. Michael. Gentle sunning to spine, some softening to spine ends, with faint foxing to text edges, preliminary, and terminal leaves; hinges sound; Very Good or better, with the gilt still bright and unrubbed. "In the early 1900s, a German dirigible fleet attacks New York City. In turn, it is attacked by an Oriental fleet. Guerrilla warfare spreads throughout the world, the "Purple Death" follows, and within 30 years humanity has been reduced to barbarism, forgetting even how to operate machinery. At one level simply another future war story, this is Wells's dramatization of the widening gap between humanity's social intelligence and its inability to manage new inventions" (Barron, Anatomy of Wonder 1-104). The novel was first serialized in Pall Mall Magazine with Michael's illustrations, which were supplied by Eric Pape for the American edition. WELLS 35; BLEILER, p.282; NEGLEY 1179.