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WELLS, H. G.
The Island of Dr. Moreau.
First edition, presentation copy, inscribed by the author "M. C. Robbins from H. G. Wells" with a drawing in the author's hand – a characteristic Wells "picshua" – of three people picnicking on an island beneath trees, inscribed "Woking 1895." Mrs M. C. Robbins, also known as Pinnie, was H. G. Wells's mother-in-law from his second marriage in 1895 to Amy Catherine, renamed Jane by Wells. Wells had eloped with Jane, who had been his student at the Tutorial College in Holborn, and had lived with her for a year before his divorce in January 1895, so relations with his mother-in-law were not initially easy. Pinnie signalled her acceptance of their relationship, however, by joining them for Christmas dinner in 1894. In May 1895 Wells and Jane moved to a semidetached villa in Woking and were married in October that year. Given that this book was published later, the retrospective date of the inscription is clearly meant to recall the happiness of the year of his second marriage.
Octavo. Original tan boards, titles and illustration to upper board in red and black, titles to spine in black. Housed in a red quarter morocco solander box made by The Chelsea Bindery. Later state ads, beginning with The Nigger of the "Narcissus" (issued December 1897). A lovely bright copy, the cloth only slightly darkened.
