"Everything in the world exists in order to end up as a book"
— Stephan Mallarme
H. G. Wells | First Editions
1866 - 1946
Celebrated novelist and short story writer in the 'fantasy' and 'romance' genres, essayist, social philosopher and historian. Together with Jules Verne, frequently considered the grandfathers of modern science fiction. An apprentice draper, teacher and biologist prior to journalism. Played a vital part in disseminating the progressive ideas which characterized the early twentieth century, becoming one of Britain's foremost popular writers writers, with scientific fantasies such as The Time Machine (1895) The Island of Dr. Moreau (1896), The Invisible Man (1897), The War of the Worlds (1898), When The Sleeper Wakes (1899), The First Men In the Moon (1901, serialized in The Strand) and In The Days of the Comet (1906). He penned numerous strange tales for various periodicals, later gathered in his classic book collections The Stolen Bacillus (1895), Tales of Space and Time (1899), Twelve Stories and a Dream (1903) The Country of the Blind (1911) etc. He also wrote a range of comic social novels which proved highly popular, notably Kipps (1905) and The History of Mr Polly (1910). Many of his works made successful (sometimes classic) early films.See below our stock of H. G. Wells First Editions, fine bindings, sets and other collectible material.
Results 1 - 23 (of 23)
The Strand Magazine October 1898.
London: George Newnes. 1898. Featuring the first publication of Arthur Conan Doyle's 'Round the Fire' story no. 5, 'The Story of the Black Doctor', with 7 illustrations by Joseph Finnemore. Also first publication of H.G. Wells' 'Mr Ledbetter's Vacation', with 8 illustrations by Shepperson. 25 x 17cm. vol. xvi, no... More
![The Land of Mist [in] The Strand Magazine. Volumes 70 and 71, numbers 415 to 423. Arthur Conan DOYLE, P. G. WODEHOUSE, Jerome K. JEROME, H. G. WELLS, Rudyard KIPLING.](/pictures/thumb/51488.jpg?v=1537875191)
The Land of Mist [in] The Strand Magazine. Volumes 70 and 71, numbers 415 to 423.
London: George Newnes, July 1925 to March 1926. [Literary Magazine] FIRST APPEARANCES. Nine parts in their original colour illustrated paper covers. Octavo (25 x 17cm). Presented in a quarter navy blue morocco clamshell box, with gilt titles to spine, raised bands and a fleece lining. Wear, rubbing and small losses... More
The First Men in the Moon.
London: George Newnes, 1901. First Edition. Octavo. Second state binding of mid-blue cloth decorated and titled in black to upper and spine, with white endpapers. Illustrated with black and white frontispiece and eleven further plates. With bookseller's ticket. Slightly bumped and rubbed to spine ends and extremities. Internally clean and... More
Kipps. The Story of a Simple Soul.
MacMillan & Co., London, 1905, FIRST EDITION IN RARE VARIANT BINDING. Pp. 425 + 2 (blank) + 32 (catalogue, dated 20.8.09). Bound in pale green cloth, heavily gilt decorated to spine with repetitive H.G Wells monogram alternating with a floral device. Light edgespotting else fine. This binding matches exactly that... More
When the Sleeper Wakes. A Story of the Years to Come.
Harper and Brothers, London, 1899, First Edition. 8vo., pps. (viii) +329. Publisher's red cloth, gilt titles to spine and upper board. Spine lightly sunned, slight wear and bumping to extremities and a spot of dampstaining to the bottom corner of the front board. Light foxing to a few pages. A.... More
Tales of Space and Time
London: Harper 1900. FIRST EDITION. 8vo; pp. vi + 358, 2. Publisher's light brown cloth, entitled in brown to spine and in gilt with rules and devices in brown to front cover; top edge trimmed, others untrimmed. Some minor wear to covers, spine age-toned; internally quite bright. A pleasing copy... More
The Time Machine.
London: Heinemann, 1895. First Edition. Octavo. Bound in contemporary red cloth with leather title labels to spine. Darkened to spine, minor shelfwear, a clean robust copy. This is a bound copy of the card wrappered first edition, as evidenced by the presence of the original card wraps bound in at... More
War and The Future: Italy, France and Britain at War.
London: Cassell and Company, 1917. First Edition. Octavo. pp. i, 297. In publisher's red embossed cloth with gilt titles to spine and blind to upper board. With original tan dust jacket; black titles. Armourial bookplate of R.D. Jackson to front paste-down. Slight sunning to spine, more heavily to head. Good... More
The Plattner Story. And Others.
London: Methuen and Co., 1897. [Science Fiction] FIRST EDITION. Octavo (19 x 14cm), pp.[2]; viii; 301; [3]. In a secondary or pirate binding of dark green cloth with gilt titles to a green morocco label to spine. Top edge gilt. Light spotting to preliminaries and edges. Some wear to label... More
The War in the Air, and Particularly how Mr. Bert Smallways Fared while it Lasted.
London: George Bell and Sons, 1908. [Scientific romance]. FIRST EDITION, second state. Octavo (20 x 14cm), pp.389; [2] publisher's advertisements. Publisher's blue cloth, gilt titles to spine, with colour plate pasted to front board; edges uncut. Illustrated with sixteen black and white plates by Michaels. Internally clean, minor foxing to... More
The Stolen Bacillus. And Other Incidents.
London: Methuen, 1895. FIRST EDITION. Octavo (20 x 14cm), pp. [x]; 275; [1], imprint; [32], catalogue, dated November 1896. In publisher's blue cloth, with gilt titles to spine and upper board, edges untrimmed. Internally very clean, adverts mainly uncut although final four pages have been roughly opened. Cloth generally bright... More
The War in the Air. and Particularly how Mr. Bert Smallways Fared while it Lasted.
London: George Bell and Sons, 1908. FIRST EDITION, FIRST ISSUE. Octavo (198 x 130mm) pp.viii; 389; [2], advertisements. With 16 monochrome illustrations by A. C. Michael. Publisher's original gilt-decoated blue cloth. A little toning to flyleaves, discreet crack to rear inside paper joint, cloth lightly worn. A clean, bright example... More
The War of The Worlds.
London: William Heinemann, 1898. [Science fiction] FIRST EDITION, FIRST ISSUE. Octavo (20 x 14cm), pp.viii; 303; [1]; [16 of publisher's advertisements dated Autumn 1897]. Publisher's grey cloth, titled in black to spine and upper. The first issue with the correct advertisements bound in at the rear. Some spotting to preliminaries... More
The Works of H.G. Wells. Contains all his famous titles, including: The Time Machine, The Invisible Man, Kipps, First Men in The Moon, War of The Worlds, The War in The Air, etc.
London: T. Fisher Unwin, 1924. The Atlantic Edition, Limited to 620 sets of which this is No.411, SIGNED on the limitation page by the author. 28 volumes, large octavo. Portrait frontispiece, title printed in red and black. Finely bound in dark green half oasis morocco with gilt titles and decoration... More
Christina Alberta's Father
London: Jonathan Cape,.1925. [Fantasy novel]. FIRST EDITION. Crown octavo (20 x 14cm), pp.410. Publisher's burgundy cloth in dust jacket illustrated by John Austen. Some overall handling and dustiness, jacket with a few chips to spine. Shows well. The story tells how a retired laundryman suffered from delusions that he was... More
The Invisible Man. A Grotesque Romance.
London: C. Arthur Pearson Limited, 1897. FIRST EDITION, First Issue. Octavo, pp.[viii]; 246; [2], adverts, with page 1 incorrectly numbered as 2, rubric lettered title-page. Publisher's pictorial red cloth. Contents toned as usual, inner joints started, owner name to flyleaf (dated Oct 13, 1897). Cloth is rubbed and dusty but... More
New Worlds For Old.
London, Archibald Constable and Co., Ltd., 1908. FIRST EDITION in book form. Publisher's gilt decorated red cloth. Light general wear, joints rubbed, extensive Wells-related pencil notes to rear endpaper, ink name and date ()1908) to flyleaf. Very good. A collection of fifteen essays, many of which had appeared serially in... More
The Sea Lady
London, Methuen and Co. 1902. Strange Tale. FIRST EDITION, 8vo., with later ads. dated August 1908. A fantasy novel. Bound in publisher's gilt-trimmed red cloth, showing some light, acceptable wear and handling but generally in an attractive state. Wells' little known fantasy foreshadows Franz Kafka's dark fables of the totalitarian... More
The Secret Places of the Heart. The Picture of a Lady.
Cassell and Company Ltd., London, 1922. FIRST EDITION, crown octavo, pp.[viii]; 311; [1], imprint. Publisher's dark green gilt-entitled cloth in original printed paper jacket. Some spotting and toning, jacket age-darkened to spine; very good indeedl. A thinly-disguised autobiographical novel touching upon issues of sexuality, marriage, love and jealousy. More
The Stolen Bacillus. And Other Incidents.
London: Methuen and Co., 1895. FIRST EDITION: Publisher's blue cloth, gilt. Some general wear and handling, signs of use and ownership (name, armorial bookplate), but essentially a very good, solid copy. A series of cynical biological and scientific tales are the basis for H.G.Wells' first collection of Science Fiction stories..... More
The War in the Air and Particularly how Mr. Bert Smallways Fared while it Lasted.
George Bell and Sons, London, 1908, FIRST EDITION. Crown octavo, pps.[viii]; 389. With 16 monochrome illustrations by A. C. Michael. In a robust private binding of grey cloth with morocco label titled in gilt, top edge gilt. Some light spotting else clean, in lightly rubbed binding. Wells' famous 'scientific romance'... More
When the Sleeper Wakes. A Story of the Years to Come.
Harper and Brothers, London, 1899, First Edition. 8vo., pps. (viii) +329. Publisher's red cloth, gilt titles to spine and upper board. Spine is age-toned, text block shaken in the case with gauze-cloth joints showing to inside gutter, boards are especially clean. A very good, solid copy. In 1897 a Victorian... More
When the Sleeper Wakes. A Story of the Years to Come.
Harper and Brothers, London, 1899, First Edition. 8vo., pps. (viii) +329. Elegantly hand-bound in full black oasis morocco, spine gilt-lettered in six compartments with raised bands, gilt titles to upper cover, burgundy moire endpapers, publisher's original cloth bound in at rear. Internally clean; a fine copy in an attractive recent... More
Results 1 - 23 (of 23)