BABYLON ELECTRIFIED: THE HISTORY OF AN EXPEDITION UNDERTAKEN TO RESTORE ANCIENT BABYLON BY THE POWER OF ELECTRICITY AND HOW IT RESULTED ... Translated From the French by Frank Linstow White .. by Bleunard, A[lbert] - 1889

Philadelphia: Gebbie & Co., 1889. Large octavo, pp. [1-4] 5-8 1-304 + 16-page publisher's catalogue dated "July, 1889" inserted at rear, flyleaves at front and rear, inserted frontispiece (colored map), numerous illustrations by A. Montader in text, original pictorial slate-green cloth, front and spine panels stamped in light blue, black, and gold, t.e.g., other edges untrimmed, olive-green patterned endpapers. First edition in English. Published in Paris as LA BABYLONE ELECTRIQUE (1888). Vernean science fiction novel that tells of the technological transformation of Mesopotamia, hindered by natives and unsatisfied workers. "An extraordinary fantasy of the attempt to make Mesopotamia a center of civilization." - Clarke, Tale of the Future (1978), p. 15. "All in all, equal to the work of Verne." - Bleiler, Science-Fiction: The Early Years 228. Clareson, Science Fiction in America, 1870s-1930s 081. Locke, A Spectrum of Fantasy, p. 36 (describing the later British edition). Suvin, Victorian Science Fiction in the UK, p. 37. Bleiler (1978), p. 26. Reginald 01479. Forbes Library bookplate on front paste-down, their perforated stamp to title leaf, inner hinges taped, binding worn, still a sound ex-library copy. (#150780)