Bringing together four of H. G. Wells's foundational works of science fiction, including The Time Machine (1895), The Island of Doctor Moreau (1896), The War of the Worlds (1898) and The First Men in the Moon (1901).

Each story moves between evolutionary speculation, biological experimentation, extraterrestrial invasion and space exploration, using the apparently fantastic to interrogate the political, moral and intellectual assumptions of Victorian society.

Wells is definitely preoccupied with this idea of human exceptionalism, repeatedly imagining circumstances in which civilisation's apparent achievements become precarious or absurd. The class divisions of The Time Machine are projected into a distant evolutionary future, while The Island of Doctor Moreau confronts the violence concealed within scientific authority and the distinction between human and animal life. Elsewhere, alien encounters reverse the logic of colonial conquest, making humanity experience the vulnerability it has historically imposed upon others. A great Wells crash course here.

Phoenix, London, 1995. First edition of this collected volume, published in the Phoenix Giants series. Large-format illustrated softcover containing four complete novels, with black-and-white illustrations. Good vintage condition, with light rubbing, minor marking and edge wear to covers.