1309 - Wells, H.G.

Wells, H.G. The First Men in the Moon. Translated from the English by Henry-D(urand) Davray. Illustrations by Martin van Maële (i.e., Maurice François Alfred Martin van Miële). Paris, Félix Juven, n.d. (1901). 4° (27.5 x 20 cm). 296 pp., [2] leaves with 16 (4 color) woodcut plates, numerous illustrations in the text, and Art Nouveau book decoration. Wine-red original cloth binding with gold-stamped spine and cover titles, a gold-stamped cover illustration (“Selenite”), and gold-edged pages. Crossly, H. G. Wells, pp. 50 ff. McLean, The Early Fiction of H. G. Wells: Fantasies of Science, pp. 117 ff. Nicholls, The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction, pp. 360 ff. Perry, Van Maele, p. 63. — First French edition and first edition with illustrations by M. van Maele. - The original English edition of H. G. Wells’s famous moon novel first appeared in *Strand Magazine* and *The Cosmopolitan* from November 1900 to June 1901 under the title “The First Men in the Moon.” The first book edition was published in 1901 by George Newnes in London. Felix Juven published three editions in 1901: this deluxe edition with color and black-and-white illustrations, a cheaper edition with only black-and-white illustrations, and a “popular edition” without illustrations. - The depiction of the moon dweller (“Selenite”) on the cover was replaced by a rocket in later editions. - The French artist and illustrator M. van Maele (1863–1926) worked in Brussels and Paris and was best known for his erotic illustrations. Van Maele also illustrated Conan Doyle’s *Aventures Extraordinaires* (Sherlock Holmes) for F. Juven in 1902. - “The inspiration seems to come from the famous 1865 book by Jules Verne, From the Earth to the Moon, and the 1875 opera by Jacques Offenbach. Verne’s novel also uses the word ‘Selenites’ to describe the inhabitants of the Moon. ... Soon after the publication of *The First Men in the Moon*, Wells was accused by the Irish writer Robert Cromie of plagiarizing his novel *A Plunge into Space* (1890), which featured an antigravity device similar to the one in Chrysostom Trueman’s *The History of a Voyage to the Moon* (1864). Both novels shared certain elements, such as a spherical spaceship built in secret after inventing a way to overcome Earth’s gravity. Wells simply replied: “I have never heard of Mr. Cromie nor of the book he attempts to promote by insinuating that I have committed plagiarism.” Jules Verne was publicly hostile to Wells’s novel, mainly because Wells had his characters travel to the Moon using a completely fictional anti-gravitational material rather than actual technology” (Wikipedia). - Spine slightly faded; front cover has a faint stain in the lower third, with a few scattered brown and fingerprint stains; very good copy.