THE RED NAPOLEON

New York: Jonathan Cape & Harrison Smith, [1929]. First edition. Bookplate with inked signature affixed to front free end paper, some foxing throughout and to end papers, a very good copy in a very good dust jacket with 13 mm closed tear to upper front panel and small 6 mm closed tear to lower front panel, mild wear to spine ends and corner tips, 20 mm closed tear with archival tape to verso at lower left spine fold, several closed tears to upper rear panel. Still an attractive copy. (25518). Octavo. pp. [1-8] 1-475 [476: blank] [note: first leaf is a blank], several battle diagrams in the text as well as a fold-out plate opposite page [464] with diagram of decisive battle in Caribbean, original orange cloth, front and spine panels stamped in red, top edge stained orange. A yellow/red peril future war novel whose main action is set in the U.S.S.R., London and Mexico during the period of 1932-1936 as a communist Tartar-Mongol nearly succeeds in subjugating the world, only to be defeated at the Battle of Jamaica. "Because of the writer's intimate knowledge of war reportage, one of the best imaginary war novels, despite wooden characters and an unconvincing American victory." - Bleiler, Science-Fiction: The Early Years 879. Anatomy of Wonder (1976) 3-21; (1981) 2-31; (1987) 2-34; and (1995) 2-42. Clareson, Science Fiction in America, 1870s-1930s 337. Clarke, Tale of the Future (1978), p. 58. Clarke, Voices Prophesying War: Future Wars 1763-3749, p. 238. Locke, A Spectrum of Fantasy, pp. 90-91. Bleiler (1978), p. 81. Reginald 05938. Hanna, A Mirror for the Nation 1385.