The Wreck of a World With a Preface by Sir John Brown, C.E., J.P. Knight of the Order of Maximilian of Mexico, etc., etc., etc.

[1890] [Reade, Reginald Colebrooke] (1853-1891). The Wreck of a World With a Preface by Sir John Brown, C.E., J.P. Knight of the Order of Maximilian of Mexico, etc., etc., etc. By W[illiam] Grove [pseud.]. London: Digby and Long. 6^th ed. London: Digby and Long, 1890. Long's Albion Library, Vol. II. This ed. rpt. in British Future Fiction. Ed. I.F. Clarke. 8 vols. (London: Pickering & Chatto, 2001), 3: 5-163, with a brief note by the editor (1-3). The English Catalogue lists the 1^st ed. as February 1890, but, due to ads in the book dated 1889, I.F. Clarke's The Tale of the Future and some other bibliographies give the publication date as 1889. L

The novel starts in what is presented in the first chapter as a flawed utopia that is technologically advanced but beginning to lose its moral center. There is a Pan-Britannic Confederation with all members having a President and Congress and the nobility gradually disappearing. But much of the novel is concerned with a revolt of the machines against the human race, which is almost eliminated. After a long conflict, humans win but are temporarily limited to one island where a small group begins to create a good society that is compared to More’s Utopia. No money. Goods freely exchanged. Sequel to his A Mexican Mystery. London: Digby and Long, 1888 in which a train is given consciousness and turns into a monster.