"The First Men in the Moon"

Title"The First Men in the Moon"
Year for Search1900
AuthorsWells, H[erbert] G[eorge](1866-1946)
Tertiary AuthorsWells, H. G.
Secondary TitleThe Strand Magazine
Volume / Edition20 - 22
Pagination529-40, 697-05; 30-41, 160-69, 279-90, 400-09, 497-07, 657-63; 16-29, 141-49
Date PublishedNovember 1900 - August 1901
KeywordsEnglish author, Male author
Annotation

Classic dystopia of breeding for service to society. On October 19, 2010, BBC Four broadcast a made-for-television version written by Mark Gatniss (b. 1966) and directed by Damon Thomas.

Additional Publishers

The Strand Magazine sections from July and August 1901 have been rpt. in Moonrise: The Golden Age of Lunar Adventures. Ed. Mike [Michael Raymond Donald] Ashley (London: British Library, 2018), 107-49 with and editor’s not on 105-06. A different version was published in The Cosmopolitan (New York) 30.1 - 6 (November 1900 - April 1901): 65-80, 194-206, 310-23, 415-29, 521-34, 643-56. First collected--Indianapolis, IN: Bowen-Merrill, 1901; and, with minor textual differences, London: George Newnes, 1901. Rpt. London Gollancz, 2013, with an “Introduction” by Lisa Tuttle (ix-xi). Rpt. in The Works of H.G. Wells Atlantic Edition. Volume VI The First Men in the Moon and Some More Human Stories (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1925), 1-267. Except for later critical editions, The Atlantic Edition is generally considered the best text of Wells’s works. Also rpt. in Amazing Stories 1.9 – 11 (December 1926 – February 1927): 774-91, 914-39, 1014-38; with illus. Bob Eggleton. Norfolk, VA: Donning Co., 1989; London: Everyman, 1993; as The First Men in the Moon: A Critical Text of the 1901 London First Edition, with an Introduction and Appendices. Ed. Leon Stover. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Co., 1998; New York: Modern Library, 2002, with an “Introduction” by Ursula K. Le Guin (xi-xviii) that has been rpt. in her Words Are My Matter: Writings About Life and Books 2000-2016 (Easthampton, MA: Small Beer, 2016), 173-78, and “Commentary” by T. S. Eliot (223-26) that had been originally published as “Journalists of Yesterday and Today.” The New English Weekly 16.16 (February 8, 1940): 237-38 [The Modern Library edition says the original title was “Wells as Journalist]; and Darko Suvin (227-240) that had originally been published as “Wells as the Turning Point of the SF Tradition.” Minnesota Review, ns 4.4 (1975): 106-15, and a “Reading Group Guide” (241-42); ed. Patrick Parrinder. London: Penguin Books, 2005, with an “Introduction” by China Miéville (xiii-xxviii), a “Note on the Text” by Patrick Parrinder (xxxi-xxxvii), and “Notes” by Steven McLean (205-13); and in The First Men in the Moon A Modern Utopia (Ware, Eng.: Wordsworth Classics, 2017), 27-193, with an “Introduction” by David Stuart Davies (11-25). An alternative beginning and an alternative ending were published as “An Unpublished Prologue to The First Men in the Moon.” with an “Introduction” by Charles Blair. The Wellsian, no. 37 (2014): 15-17; and “Terrestrial: An Unpublished Version of the Ending of The First Men in the Moon” with an “Introduction” by Simon J. James. The Wellsian, no. 37 (2014): 18-30.

Info Notes

On October 19, 2010, BBC Four broadcast a made-for-television version written by Mark Gatniss (b. 1966) and directed by Damon Thomas.

Illustration

Illus. Claude A. Shepperson

Holding Institutions

L, Merril

Author Note

(1866-1946)

Full Text

1900-01 Wells, H[erbert] G[eorge] (1866-1946). “The First Men in the Moon.” Illus. Claude A. Shepperson. The Strand Magazine 20.119 - 22.128 (November 1900 - August 1901): 529-40, 697-05; 30-41, 160-69, 279-90, 400-09, 497-507, 657-63; 16-29, 141-49. The sections from July and August 1901 have been rpt. in Moonrise: The Golden Age of Lunar Adventures. Ed. Mike [Michael Raymond Donald] Ashley (London: British Library, 2018), 107-49 with and editor’s not on 105-06. A different version was published in The Cosmopolitan (New York) 30.1 - 6 (November 1900 - April 1901): 65-80, 194-206, 310-23, 415-29, 521-34, 643-56. First collected--Indianapolis, IN: Bowen-Merrill, 1901; and, with minor textual differences, London: George Newnes, 1901. Rpt. London Gollancz, 2013, with an “Introduction” by Lisa Tuttle (ix-xi). Rpt. in The Works of H.G. Wells Atlantic Edition. Volume VI The First Men in the Moon and Some More Human Stories (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1925), 1-267. Except for later critical editions, The Atlantic Edition is generally considered the best text of Wells’s works. Also rpt. in Amazing Stories 1.9 – 11 (December 1926 – February 1927): 774-91, 914-39, 1014-38; with illus. Bob Eggleton. Norfolk, VA: Donning Co., 1989; London: Everyman, 1993; as The First Men in the Moon: A Critical Text of the 1901 London First Edition, with an Introduction and Appendices. Ed. Leon Stover. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Co., 1998; New York: Modern Library, 2002, with an “Introduction” by Ursula K. Le Guin (xi-xviii) that has been rpt. in her Words Are My Matter: Writings About Life and Books 2000-2016 (Easthampton, MA: Small Beer, 2016), 173-78, and “Commentary” by T. S. Eliot (223-26) that had been originally published as “Journalists of Yesterday and Today.” The New English Weekly 16.16 (February 8, 1940): 237-38 [The Modern Library edition says the original title was “Wells as Journalist]; and Darko Suvin (227-240) that had originally been published as “Wells as the Turning Point of the SF Tradition.” Minnesota Review, ns 4.4 (1975): 106-15, and a “Reading Group Guide” (241-42); ed. Patrick Parrinder. London: Penguin Books, 2005, with an “Introduction” by China Miéville (xiii-xxviii), a “Note on the Text” by Patrick Parrinder (xxxi-xxxvii), and “Notes” by Steven McLean (205-13); and in The First Men in the Moon A Modern Utopia (Ware, Eng.: Wordsworth Classics, 2017), 27-193, with an “Introduction” by David Stuart Davies (11-25). An alternative beginning and an alternative ending were published as “An Unpublished Prologue to The First Men in the Moon.” with an “Introduction” by Charles Blair. The Wellsian, no. 37 (2014): 15-17; and “Terrestrial: An Unpublished Version of the Ending of The First Men in the Moon” with an “Introduction” by Simon J. James. The Wellsian, no. 37 (2014): 18-30. L, Merril

Classic dystopia of breeding for service to society. On October 19, 2010, BBC Four broadcast a made-for-television version written by Mark Gatniss (b. 1966) and directed by Damon Thomas.