The Island of Dr Moreau, H G Wells. First Edition, 1896. Peter Harrington Rare Books

Jan 27, 2016 | Videos

The Island of Dr Moreau, H G Wells. First Edition, 1896. London: William Heinemann, 1896.

You can view our first edition of The Island of Dr Moreau here.

Presented by Ben Houston, Rare Books Specialist at Peter Harrington Rare Books.

Octavo. Original brown boards, titles and illustration to front board in red and black, titles to spine in black; binding B, with the publisher’s monogram stamped in blind on rear board, and rear advertisement for The Time Machine on leaf preceding 16 leaves of advertisements, beginning with The Manxman and ending with Out of Due Season. Housed in a red quarter morocco solander box by the Chelsea Bindery. Frontispiece with tissue guard. Spine toned and rolled, cloth a little rubbed, a little wear to tips, a little faint foxing to edges of text block. An excellent copy.

First edition, first state. Presentation copy, inscribed by the author on the front free endpaper “J. T. Ewen, warmest regards from H. G. Wells.” John Taylor Ewen (1863-1942) was a Forfar-born engineer involved in the construction of the Forth Railway Bridge, and collector and patron of the artist James Watterston Herald. He published a novel, Susie; a Princess o’ Paddy: A tale of Scottish home life (Forfar, 1892), under the pseudonym Frank F. Angus. Wells also presented him with a first edition of The Time Machine, inscribed to Ewen “with the blessing of H. G. Wells”.

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