1687 COMICAL HISTORY of STATES & EMPIRES of the WORLDS of the MOON & SUN antique

Science Fiction

Cyrano de Bergerac (Savinien) (1619-1655)


The Comical History of the States and Empires of the Worlds of the Moon and Sun.


2 parts in one

 first English edition

 Translated by A. Lovell


London: Printed for Henry Rhodes, 1687

engraved frontispiece, blank leaf K7 present at end of part 1 but lacking "To the Reader" and another preliminary leaf from part 1 and errata leaf at end of part 2,
a couple of leaves with short tears and a couple of corners defective,
one with loss of pagination,
some slight marginal worming and a few headlines in part 2 trimmed,


8vo: 4.5 by 7"  (173 x 102 mm)


Engraved frontispiece.

Original calf, spine in 6 compartments with 5 raised bands (front board detached, some soiling to interior boards, rubbing).

Provenance:
Reverend William Coddington (ownership inscription on title-page);
James Stevens Cox (1910-1997), British historian, author, and archivist

The Comical History of the States and Empires of the Worlds of the Moon and Sun was first published in 1657, and is considered to be one of the first science fiction stories, with author Arthur C. Clarke crediting it with the first literary depiction of spaceflight.
It would go on to inspire countless other works of science fiction, most notably Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's Travels. Bleiler, The Early Years 542;
Wing C7717
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