THE RED NAPOLEON

New York: Jonathan Cape & Harrison Smith, [1929]. First edition. Previous owner's name ink-stamped on front free endpaper. Some discoloration to cloth (probably offsetting from the dust jacket), a very good copy in a good or better pictorial dust jacket with chip from upper spine end, two small chips at upper edge of front panel, and tiny chips from lower spine end, age-darkening to spine panel, and dust soiling to the yellow background. (19982). 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.