H. G. Wells sends two men to the moon by way of accident, invention and a substance called cavorite.

Bedford, broke and opportunistic, falls in with the eccentric scientist Cavor, whose anti-gravity discovery makes space travel suddenly less impossible and much more morally inconvenient.

First published in 1901, The First Men in the Moon is one of Wells’ great scientific romances: part lunar adventure, part satire of empire, capital, progress and human arrogance. The Moon is not empty but inhabited by the Selenites, an insect-like civilisation whose social order turns Wells’ eye back toward Earth with the usual grim little smirk. This Everyman edition includes an introduction by Arthur C. Clarke, which is exactly the kind of pairing that makes sense: one old future being handed to another.

Everyman paperback, reprinted 1994 and 1999; originally first published in this Everyman edition in 1993. Introduced by Arthur C. Clarke. Light shelf wear and minor marking to cover, with some age-toning to pages. Binding sound; a good clean reading copy.