THE WAR OF THE WORLDS by Wells H. G - 1898

London: William Heinemann, 1898. First Edition, with 16 pages of ads dated 1897, (later issues had 32 pages). 8vo, publisher's original gray cloth, lettered in blue-black on the spine and upper cover. viii, 303, 16 ads. A very good copy, with some age mellowing to the spine panel as is common, and the usual evidence of age to the endleaves. FIRST EDITION, FIRST ISSUE AND A WELL PRESERVED COPY. One of H. G. Wells's "big three," along with THE INVISIBLE MAN and THE TIME MACHINE. Although not as scarce as the other two, THE WAR OF THE WORLDS is perhaps more notorious due to the radio adaptation that Orson Welles broadcast in 1938 to millions of terrified listeners, who took it for a factual report of the invasion of New Jersey by Martians. The theme of alien invasion is also probably Wells's most enduring, providing the plot for dozens of subsequent science fiction movies and books. A seminal work of science fiction.