The Time Machine - photo 1
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The Time Machine

Lot 116
28.09.2023 13:00UTC +00:00
Classic
Sold
£ 27 720
AuctioneerCHRISTIE'S
Event locationUnited Kingdom, London
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Archive
ID 1016514
Lot 116 | The Time Machine
Estimate value
£ 10 000 – 15 000
The Time Machine

H. G. Wells

WELLS, H. G. (1866-1946). The Time Machine. An Invention. London: William Heinemann, 1895.



A pioneering work of science fiction: first UK edition, first issue, inscribed by the author. The Time Machine, a term coined by Wells himself, is ‘the earliest known work of science fiction to be based on the idea of time travel’. The protagonist – simply named the ‘Time Traveller’ – journeys into the far future, and witnesses a type of post-apocalyptic Earth inhabited by two separate human species: the childlike Eloi live on the Earth’s surface in an idyllic garden-like environment, while the savage Morlocks live in a subterranean world, subsisting on the Eloi at night. The work was published simultaneously in Britain and the USA; priority of issue has not been determined. Hammond B1; Currey p.524-5; Locke p.227.



Octavo. 16pp. publishers ads at end headed ‘THE MANXMAN’ [indicating first issue]. Original tan-grey buckram, lettered in purple and front cover blocked with a sphinx, uncut (spine slightly darkened, minor soiling); custom dark-brown morocco-backed cloth box, gilt spine. Provenance: authorial inscription on half-title (‘Written in 1893. 1894 / H.G. Wells’) – Donald G. Drapkin (bookplate in box; sold Christie’s New York 29 June 2005, lot 400).

Place of origin:Northern Europe, Europe, United Kingdom
Auction house category:Printed books
Address of auction CHRISTIE'S
8 King Street, St. James's
SW1Y 6QT London
United Kingdom
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28.09.2023 – 28.09.2023
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