The Evacuaiton of england: The Twist In The Gulf Stream (INSCRIBED BY THE AUTHOR in the year of publication)
New York: Brentano's, 1908. First edition. Hardcover. First edition. INSCRIBED ON THE HALF TITLE: "Prof. A.S. Bickmore/ with the compliments/ of L.P. Gratacap/ June 1908". Hardcover in red cloth lettered in gilt. 321 pp. A tight, near fine example, spine just a bit darkened, front hinge minimally and neatly repaired. Very scarce. An early fantasy/disaster novel in which the completion of the Panama Canal caused Central America to sink and the Atlantic ocean to flood westward and prompting an evacuation of England. This novel was one of the earliest examples of enviormental apocalyptic tales (such as Wells' "The Star" and Conal Doyle's "The Poison Belt") that evolved in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Louis Pope Gratacap was an American naturalist and museum curator, most of whose writings were scientific in nature but who also authored scinece fiction/fantasy such as "The Certainlty of a future Life on Mars" (1903) in which dying humans are transcended to a utopian Mars (a father communicates by radio with his son); and "A Woman of the Ice Age" (1906) set in 30,000 BC. The Professor (Albert S.) Bickmore, to whom Gratacap inscribed this book, was a fellow naturalist and one of the founders of the American Museum of Naural History in New York City. Near Fine. Item #E24322
Price: $500.00