Item #3006529 Bataille de Dorking, Invasion des Prussiens en Angleterre. Sir George Tomkyns CHESNEY.
Bataille de Dorking, Invasion des Prussiens en Angleterre.

Bataille de Dorking, Invasion des Prussiens en Angleterre.

Paris: Henri Plon, 1871.

Duodecimo, quarter red-brown morocco.

German rule in England

Early French edition of Chesney's electrifying tale of the German invasion of England. Its depiction of the humiliation of the English in battle, but also the crushing despair of life under German rule, positions this work as an important precursor to the dystopias of the twentieth century.

Early French edition of Chesney's electrifying tale of the German invasion of England. Its depiction of the humiliation of the English in battle, but also the crushing despair of life under German rule, positions this work as an important precursor to the dystopias of the twentieth century.

Sir George Tomkyns Chesney (who founded the Royal Indian Civil Engineering College at Staines, later General Sir George Chesney and subsequently MP for Oxford) first published this short story in Blackwood's Magazine for May 1871. It quickly ran to many editions and commentaries on both sides of the Atlantic. Its basic premise is that following the defeat of the French in the Franco-Prussian war, the German armies take what was widely feared to be the inevitable step of invading, and quickly subduing, England.

Published the same year as Chesney's original, and with a Preface which sketches out the early reception of the work, this early French edition is indicative of the enormous interest generated by the work, 'un brilliant jeu d'esprit littéraire et une ingénieuse fiction'.

Barbier, I, p. 387.

Condition Report: A neat copy.

Price (AUD): $225.00

US$147.82   Other currencies

Ref: #3006529

Condition Report