Wells, H.G. (1866-1946). When the Sleeper Wakes. London and New York: Harper and Brothers, 1899.

8vo. Half-title, frontispiece, and 2 plates. Original red cloth, lettered in gilt on upper cover and spine (spine lightly sunned). Provenance: H.G. Wells (inscription to:); Vyvyan Holland (1886-1967); Sotheby's (sold, 20 April 1953, lot 52); Heritage (sold, 10 April 2013, lot 36299).

PRESENTATION COPY OF THE FIRST EDITION IN BOOK FORM, INSCRIBED AND ADDITIONALLY INITIALED BY WELLS TO VYVYAN HOLLAND, with a sketch of Holland lying in bed and Wells urging him to rise, and a verse in parody of Longfellow: "Life is real & Life is earnest, Collecting paperweights is not its goal, Bric a brac thou art & to Bric a brac returnest, Was not spoken to the soul." The author and translator Vyvyan Holland was the second son of Oscar Wilde and Constance Lloyd, who changed her surname and those of her sons following Wilde's conviction. First published in The Graphic, this dystopian novel is an important early precursor of Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four. Hammond B6; Wells 15.

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The Library of Stephen J. Farber

Wells, H.G. (1866-1946). When the Sleeper Wakes. London and New York: Harper and Brothers, 1899.

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