JOHN MUNRO. [David Gascoyne]. — A Trip to Venus. A novel.

Jarrold & Sons, London, 1st Edition, First Edition (first printing). 8vo. 254pp + [xviii] publisher's catalogue at the rear. Blue smooth weave cloth lettered in gilt and red, and decorated with gilt-stamped stars. Publisher's monogram blind-stamped to the rear board. David Gascoyne's copy, with his name and the date 1943 inked to the front free endpaper. Cloth discoloured at the backstrip. Front hinge tender at the half-title yet the binding perfectly sound thereafter. Some darkening to the endpapers and pastedowns. A lovely crisp copy of an extremely uncommon science fiction novel: an account of a journey to an idyllic utopia of Venus, with a brief excursion to Mercury, written by a Bristol-based mechanical engineer. The first chapter, 'A Message from Mars', was originally published as a stand-alone short story in 'Cassell' magazine (1895), and was subsequently revised into this current form., Very Good