The Diamond Lens and Other Stories. O'BRIEN (Fitz-James).

PIONEERING SCIENCE FICTION

Collected and Edited, with a Sketch of the Author by William Winter.

First London Edition. 8vo. [193 x 128 x 27 mm]. xx, 337, [1] pp. Bound c.1950 by Bayntun-Riviere (signed with an ink pallet) in half brown morocco, Cockerell marbled paper sides. The spine divided into six panels with raised bands and gilt compartments, lettered in the second and third and dated at the foot, the others with a central ornamental tool, matching marbled endleaves, top edge gilt.
London: Ward & Downey, 1887

First published as The Poems and Stories of Fitz-James O'Brien in Boston in 1881, and republished in New York in 1885. O'Brien, a native of Ireland, died in 1862 from wounds received in the American Civil War. He was one of the earliest science fiction writers, much admired by H. P. Lovecraft. The Diamond Lens (1858) tells the story of a scientist who invents a powerful microscope and discovers a beautiful female in a microscopic world in a drop of water. The Wondersmith (1859) is a predecessor of robot rebellion, where toys possessed by evil spirits are transformed into living automata who turn against their creators. What Is It? (1859) is one of the earliest known examples of invisibility in fiction.

Stock no. ebc7720