H.G. Wells The Wealth Of Mr. Waddy First and similar items

THE WEALTH OF MR. WADDY by H.G. Wells Carbondale and Edwardsville: Southern Illinois University Press, (1969). First edition. Crosscurrents/Modern Fiction series edited by Harry T. Moore. Near fine copy; in a nearly fine, illustrated dust jacket that is price-clipped. The discovery of a “lost” manuscript by H. G. Wells is an exciting literary event, and the publishers of the Crosscurrents Modern Fiction series were proud to present the first publication of Wells’s The Wealth of Mr. Waddy. "A study of H. G. Wells’s correspondence reveals that as early as October 1898 he was discussing this new “comic” novel, and that he continued work on the manuscript into March 1899. Then after more than a year’s silence about it in the existing correspondence, he says (April 23, 1900), “Just at present Kipps turns out well,” and from there on he refers only to Kipps. In the Preface written in 1925 for the Atlantic Edition of his works, Wells recalls, “Kipps was written in 1903-4. It is only a fragment of a much larger and more ambitious design. The original title was The Wealth of Mr. Waddy.… it was put aside, and I’m afraid destroyed.” Fortunately Mr. Wells was mistaken, for the discarded materials of the original manuscript are in the H. G. Wells Archive at the University of Illinois, where Professor Harris Wilson, the textual editor of this edition, found them." PLEASE VIEW OUR STORE FOR MORE GREAT FIRST EDITION BOOKS THANKS!