LAST AND FIRST MEN

New York: Jonathan Cape and Harrison Smith, [1931]. First U. S. edition, later binding. Base of spine a little bruised, a fine copy in a nearly fine to fine price clipped pictorial dust jacket (art deco illustration by Arthur Hawkins) with slight shelf wear to edges, a 26 mm closed tear to lower rear corner at spine fold with light crease, small closed tear to lower rear flap fold. An above average copy. (30780). Octavo, pp. [i-iv] v [vi] vii-ix [x] xi [xii] xiii-xvi 1-371 [372: blank], original tan cloth, spine stamped in black, bottom edge rough trimmed. The author's first novel, "one of the most remarkable imaginative works in the field of futuristic fiction: an account of human development during the next hundreds of millions of years." - Clarke, Tale of the Future (1978), p. 58. "On his own terms, Stapledon is unequaled, and he certainly has been one of the major influences on contemporary science fiction." - Survey of Science Fiction Literature III, pp. 1140-43. "LAST AND FIRST MEN and STAR MAKER soar far beyond the accepted limits of science fiction... Stapledon is the great classical example, the cold pitch of perfection as he turns scientific concepts into vast ontological epic prose poems, the ultimate SF writer." - Aldiss, Trillion Year Spree: The History of Science Fiction, p. 198. Stapledon's "influence, both direct and indirect, on the development of many concepts which now permeate genre SF is probably second only to that of H. G. Wells." - Clute and Nicholls (eds), The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction (1993), pp. 1151-53. Aldiss, Trillion Year Spree: The History of Science Fiction, p. 198. Anatomy of Wonder (1976) 3-56; (1981) 2-98; (1987) 2-109; and (1995) 2-119. Bleiler, Science-Fiction: The Early Years 2086. Clareson, Science Fiction in America, 1870s-1930s 718. Clarke, Tale of the Future (1978), p. 58. Clute and Nicholls (eds), The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction (1993), pp. 1151-52. Gerber, Utopian Fantasy (1973), p. 151. Locke, A Spectrum of Fantasy, pp. 204-05. Stableford, Scientific Romance in Britain 1890-1950, pp. 200-03. Survey of Science Fiction Literature III, pp. 1140-43. In 333. Bleiler (1978), p. 185. Reginald 13553. Satty and Smith A3.2.1.