OBRUCHEV, VLADIMIR (VLADIMIR AFANASYEVICH OBRUCHEV ) (TRANSLATED BY FAINNA SOLASKO, EDITED BY MARGARET HAMILTON) — Plutonia

Moscow, Russia: Foreign Languages Publishing House, 1955. 1st English Edition; 1st Printing. Hardcover. Illustrated by G. Nikolsky. B&W Illustrations; The date isn't listed in the book, but references put it at either 1955 or 1957. This book is in Very Good condition and is lacking a dust jacket (possibly issued without a dust jacket). The spine ends and corners of the book covers have some beginning bumping, rubbing and fraying. The front cover and spine of the book are illustrated with black, gilt and pink lettering and decorations, and an embossed set of dinosaurs. The text pages are clean and bright. There are spots of toning / foxing to both front and rear endpapers. "In his native country Obruchev is best known as the author of two perennially popular science fiction novels, Plutonia (1915) and Sannikov Land (1924). Both of these stories, imitating the pattern of Arthur Conan Doyle's The Lost World, depict in vivid detail the discovery of an isolated world of prehistoric animals in hitherto unexplored large islands north of Alaska or Siberia. In Plutonia, dinosaurs and other Jurassic species are found in a fictional underground area north of Alaska. The descriptive passages are made more credible by Obruchev's extensive knowledge of paleontology. "Sannikov Land" is named for a phantom island of the Arctic Ocean, reported historically by Yakov Sannikov in 1811. Paul J. McAuley praised the novel in a 1999 column, saying "It's true that the characters are indistinguishably wooden mouthpieces for the author's opinions, and the plot is pure pulp, but all this is redeemed by the novel's rigorous scientific sensibility." " (from Wikipedia). Very Good .