London, Privately Printed, 1894. Limited Edition. Hardback. A very good copy, numbered 244 of 251. Lucian's True History is the mother of all taproot texts for the genre. Before Wells and Verne, before Micromegas, Gulliver and Klimii, even before Bergerac and Godwin, Lucian took us on a fantastical journey. It's such an early work in the genre that it arguably precedes the notion of fiction with Lucian outlining his story as nothing more than a lie (but crediting himself with being honest in that regard, in comparison to his forebears such as Homer). Hickes translated the book from the Greek in the 1600s and never saw his translation in print. The present edition uses Hickes's translation, preferring it over later attempts by North and Holland. It's a wonderful book, illustrated by William Strang (seven illustrations), Aubrey Beardsley (two illustrations) and J.B. Clark (seven illustrations, with an erudite introduction by Charles Whibley. An excellent alternative to the less obtainable 1634 edition. An important book. Boards tanned, some rubbing and bumping to the tips and corners. Internally neat with darkened tissueguards. Offsetting to endpapers. Parallel Greek and English text. [10587, Hyraxia Books].

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