Wells, H. G. | A scarce and desirable leaf from one of Wells' major works

Wells, H. G. 

Autograph manuscript leaf from The Invisible Man: A Grotesque Romance, [n.d., but 1896-1897]

1 page, 4to (260 x 210 mm), comprising 5 paragraphs or about 170 words in ink, with numerous emendations; light toning along horizontal and vertical folds, folds discreetly reinforced, one corner lightly bumped, pin hole at upper left not costing any letters, small adhesive marks where previously tipped along verso of inner margin.    

A very rare autograph manuscript leaf from the father of modern science fiction

Boldly melodramatic and intellectually provocative, Wells's early "scientific romances" remain unsurpassed for their imagination and visionary power. They reveal his profound grasp of the changes—perhaps the diminution—in the meaning and sense of purpose of human life brought about by Darwinian evolutionary theory. Their pessimism is at one with the fin de siècle mood, but the passing of time has not dimmed their assault on human complacency. Where Wells's contemporaries saw him as adding the 'scientific imagination' to nineteenth-century romance, the twentieth century regarded him as the greatest of the forerunners of modern science fiction. His tales of future evolution, alien intelligence, interplanetary warfare, and technological dystopia anticipated most of the genre's thematic repertory. He stands midway between the older traditions of the learned satire, the utopia, and the marvellous voyage, and the twentieth-century growth of mass-entertainment technological fantasy (DNB).

The present leaf dates from an incredibly productive period in Wells's literary output, when he and he produced in quick succession The Island of Doctor Moreau (1896), The Invisible Man (1897), The War of the Worlds (1898), The First Men in the Moon (1901), and several volumes of short stories. The Invisible Man is the tale of a scientist named Griffin, who turns himself invisible, but is unable to reverse the experiment. He takes lodging at a rural Inn, before running afoul of the townspeople. The manuscript text varies from that found in Chapter XI of the published text, and follows a scene where the local doctor and vicar, Mr. Cuss and Mr. Bunting, are interrupted while examining Griffin's diaries, which are filled with unintelligible cyphers recording his experiments.

The manuscript text reads, in full:

"... starten violently, & a man in a furry silk hat appeared. 'Tap?' he asked & stood staring. 

['No,' said both gentleman at once. And, 'please shut that door.' said Mr. Cuss irritably. 'All right,' said the intruder, as it seemed, in a low voice curiously different from the huskiness of his first enquiry. 

'Right you are,' said the intruder in his former voice. 'Stand clear.' & he vanished & closed the door. He then, it would seem, went to the bar & obtained a pint of four penny, which he drank eagerly forthwith. 'That'll steady you, Thomas Marvel' he muttered to himself. After that he stood at the top of the steps, staring down the village at the flags & festivities.

['A sailor, I should judge,' said Mr. Bunting, 'Amusing fellow's they are. 'Stand clear indeed. A nautical term, referring to his getting back out of the room I suppose.' 

['I daresay so,' said Cuss. 'My nerves are all loose to-day. It quite made me jump - the door opening like that.'"  

A scarce and desirable leaf from one of Wells' major works.