Bert Babcock - Bookseller, LLC

EMPEROR OF THE IF

Dent, Guy

London: William Heinemann, 1926. First Edition. Hardcover. One of the most ambitious and conceptually strange novels of the 1920s, and a genuine precursor to the machine dystopia sub-genre. The premise centers on a scientist who constructs a living organism from a preserved human brain, capable of superimposing alternative histories directly over the present reality. The first half delivers a remarkable Lost World scenario as prehistoric life reclaims London. The second half pivots into a bleak far future ruled by two warring factions of self-reproducing sentient machines, with humanity devolved into near-mindless dwarfs kept alive solely to maintain their mechanical masters. Cited in Clute and Nicholls's Encyclopedia of Science Fiction as one of the first novels to treat history as a branching series of alternatives, and in Stableford's Scientific Romance in Britain as one of the most striking scientific romances of the decade. First editions in any condition are extremely scarce. 8vo, second issue binding, blue boards with black spine lettering, Good only. Lacking the blank front free endpaper; front hinge starting. Covers tanned, spine darkened, with mild chipping at the spine ends. Page edges foxed. Interior otherwise clean and bright. Scarce in any condition.

Price: $300.00 save 15% $255.00