The First Men in the Moon (Oxford World's Classics) - Softcover

Wells, H. G.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0198705042 ISBN 13: 9780198705048

Publisher: Oxford University Press, 2017

Synopsis

At the village of Lympne, on the south coast of England, the "most uneventful place in the world" the failed playwright Mr. Bedford meets the brilliant inventor Mr. Cavor, and together they invade the moon.

Dreaming respectively of scientific renown and of mineral wealth, they fashion a sphere from the gravity-defying substance Cavorite and go where no human has gone before. They expect a dead world, but instead they find lunar plants that grow in a single day, giant moon-calves and the ant-like Selenites, the super-adapted inhabitants of the Moon's utopian society.

The First Men in the Moon is both an inspired and imaginative fantasy of space travel and alien life, and a satire of turn-of-the-century Britain and of utopian dreams of a wholly ordered and rational society.

About this title

From the Publisher:

Founded in 1906 by J.M. Dent, the Everyman Library has always tried to make the best books ever written available to the greatest number of people at the lowest possible price. Unique editorial features that help Everyman Paperback Classics stand out from the crowd include: a leading scholar or literary critic's introduction to the text, a biography of the author, a chronology of her or his life and times, a historical selection of criticism, and a concise plot summary. All books published since 1993 have also been completely restyled: all type has been reset, to offer a clarity and ease of reading unique among editions of the classics; a vibrant, full-color cover design now complements these great texts with beautiful contemporary works of art. But the best feature must be Everyman's uniquely low price. Each Everyman title offers these extensive materials at a price that competes with the most inexpensive editions on the market-but Everyman Paperbacks have durable binding, quality paper, and the highest editorial and scholarly standards.

From the Inside Flap:

"Why do people read science fiction? In hopes of receiving such writing as this--a ravishingly accurate vision of things unseen; an utterly unexpected yet necessary beauty." So says Ursula K. Le Guin in her Introduction to "The First Men in the Moon, H. G. Wells's 1901 tale of space travel. Heavily criticized upon publication for its fantastic ideas, it is now justly considered a science fiction classic.
Cavor, a brilliant scientist who accidentally produces a gravity-defying substance, builds a spaceship and, along with the materialistic Bedford, travels to the moon. The coldly intellectual Cavor seeks knowledge, while Bedford seeks fortune. Instead of insight and gold they encounter the Selenites, a horrifying race of biologically engineered creatures who viciously, and successfully, defend their home.

About this edition

• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Publication date: 2017
• ISBN 10: 0198705042
• ISBN 13: 9780198705048
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 224
• Editor: James Simon J.