The War of the Worlds

H.G. (Herbert George) Wells(1866–1946) was born at Bromley in Kent, England, the son of a professional cricketer turned failed shopkeeper. Wells was apprenticed to a draper and then to a pharmacist before winning a scholarship to the Normal School of Science, where he earned a first in Zoology. Beginning as a writer of textbooks, he was soon publishing articles and fiction in prominent journals, and his early work included such pioneering and influential works of science fiction as The Time Machine, The Invisible Man, The Island of Doctor Moreau, and The War of the Worlds. Later books were devoted to realist and comic accounts of lower-middle-class life, among the best known of which are Tono-Bungay, Kipps, and Love and Mr Lewisham. Wells was also the author of many works of nonfiction and, throughout his career, a committed socialist and internationalist. »

Edward Gorey (1925-2000) was born in Chicago. He studied at the Art Institute of Chicago, spent three years in the army testing poison gas, and attended Harvard College, where he majored in French literature and roomed with the poet Frank O'Hara. In 1953 Gorey published The Unstrung Harp, the first of his many extraordinary illustrated books, which include The Curious Sofa, The Haunted Tea Cosy, and The Epileptic Bicycle. NYRB has published Gorey's illustrated edition of H. G. Wells's The War of the Worlds and The Haunted Looking Glass, a selection of his favorite tales of ghosts, ghouls, and grisly goings-on. »

By H.G. Wells
Illustrations by Edward Gorey

When massive, intelligent aliens from Mars touch down in Victorian England and threaten to destroy the civilized world, humanity's vaunted knowledge proves to be of little use. First published in 1898, H.G. Wells's masterpiece of speculative fiction has thrilled and delighted generations of readers, spawned countless imitations, and inspired dramatizations by such masters as Orson Welles and Steven Spielberg. The War of the Worlds is a fantasy that is both startlingly up-to-date and in touch with the most ancient of human fears.

In 1960, Edward Gorey prepared a set of his inimitable pen-and-ink drawings to illustrate a new edition of Wells's The War of the Worlds for the legendary Looking Glass Library. Characteristically quirky, elegant, and entrancing, Gorey's visual take on Wells's seminal tour de force has been unavailable for close to fifty years. This special hardcover edition from NYRB Classics brings back for today's readers a richly rewarding collaboration between two modern masters of all that's wonderful and strange.

Reviews

[Edward Gorey's] work has imprinted itself on the American consciousness as something from long ago and far away.
— The New Yorker

Since H. G. Wells published War of the Worlds in 1898, artists have struggled to depict his alien invaders. Perhaps none succeeded so well as the illustrator Edward Gorey... His wonderfully creepy 1960 edition eschews the Robby the Robot designs of pulp fiction, and the slickness of the bad 1953 film, instead delivering an insectlike infestation of pen-and-ink tendrils...
— New York Magazine

Also see:

The Haunted Looking Glass
Ghost stories chosen and illustrated by Edward Gorey

The Haunted Looking Glass is the late Edward Gorey's selection of his favorite tales of ghosts, ghouls, and grisly goings-on.

The Colour Out of Space
Edited by D. Thin

This new collection features some of the greatest masters of extreme terror.

Fancies and Goodnights
By John Collier
Introduction by Ray Bradbury

"Here is a world of moonshine and madness, of suburbia invaded by fiends and angels, of magic spells, grotesque melodrama and lunatic farce, surprising, ludicrous, terrifying." —The New York Times

Men and Gods
By Rex Warner
Illustrations by Edward Gorey

Edward Gorey's drawings complement this modern retelling of some of the most beloved myths of ancient Greece. Men and Gods is wonderful introduction to these thrilling tales for the uninitiated and the perfect opportunity to get reacquainted with them.

Format: Hardcover
Retail Price: $17.95
Price: $14.36 (20% off)

Jun 30, 2005
260 pages
ISBN: 1590171586
9781590171585
Literature in English
NYRB Classics

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