Scarce 19th Century SF
To Venus in Five Seconds: Being an Account of the Strange Disappearance of Thomas Plummer, Pill-maker
Notes: A late Victorian science fiction in which the medical student Thomas Plummer is transported to Venus where he is to be subjected to medical experiments. Venus is inhabited by large, intelligent insects and a race of humans connected to Egypt and Central America, one of whom lured Plummer into a transporter disguised as an English house. A war breaks out on Venus and Plummer escapes back to earth.
This is the second of three SF novels Jane wrote in the late 1890s. Previously, he had worked as an illustrator (he contributes six illustrations to this book). In 1898, he published the first issue of Jane's Fighting Ships, a series that continues to this day, documenting military equipment from around the world.
Edition + Condition: First edition (first printing). Printed yellow-cloth covers darkened and spotted; initials in pencil on front free endpaper, a bit of fraying to the top of the spine. A decent copy of a scarce novel.
Publication: London: A. D. Innes, 1897.
Item No: #362137
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