Beschreibung:

Title: The Last Man. Author: [Shelley, Mary Wollstonecraft] The Author of Frankenstein Place: London Publisher: Henry Colburn Date: 1826 Description: 3 volumes. xii, 358 +[2 ads]; [ii], 328; [ii], 352. Volume 1 with the often lacking leaf of ads at rear. (12mo) 20.5x12.5 cm (8x5") rebound in modern calf-backed marbled boards, blue morocco spine labels. First Edition. "The story of a ravaging plague that gradually wipes humanity from existence; the first of the 'catastrophe' novels written in English, and hence the forerunner of an important modern theme in science fiction." - Survey of Science Fiction Literature III, pp. 1151-55. For an excellent summary of the economic, political, scientific, and literary influences that gave rise to the "last man" theme see Clarke, The Pattern of Expectation 1644-2001, pp. 35-61. Bleiler, Science-Fiction: The Early Years 2020. Block, p. 213. Wolff 6281. Lot Amendments Condition: Some scattered foxing and soiling, shallow ink stains along fore-edge margins of first 50 and last 50 pages of volume three, a very good copy overall in an attractive modern binding. Item number: 276941