Erchomenon; or, the Republic of Materialism By ****
Rare early Victorian-era dystopia, 1879
Published anonymously in 1879 by the Australian author and clergyman Henry Crocker Marriott Watson, Erchomenon; or, the Republic of Materialism is one of the earliest examples of dystopian fiction and a sleeper-awakes narrative in the tradition that Wells would later develop more famously. A Victorian English gentleman, reading by his fireside in 1877, finds himself transported to a technologically advanced future London whose aerial cars, compressed-air transport, and vast urban density suggest a world of material progress. For Watson, the technological progress is ironic backdrop to a darker argument. A society organized around French philosopher Auguste Comte's positivism and Darwin's natural selection, having expelled God and Christian faith, has produced something monstrous beneath its efficient surface. Children are separated from their parents at birth and raised collectively in state baby farms. Euthanasia is applied to the sick and infirm as a matter of routine. The first scene the protagonist witnesses on arrival is a doctor strangling an injured man on the street while the crowd watches with indifference. Marriage has been replaced by contract and Westminster Abbey by a Temple of Humanity. Christianity survives only in remote communities clinging to their old beliefs.
The novel is a direct theological and political response to the secular progressivism of the 1870s, and despite its polemical purpose it is also genuinely readable, with a plot involving the protagonist's relationships with characters who represent different positions within the future society. Errata slip laid in. 32-page publisher's catalogue dated "October, 1879" inserted at rear. Very rare.
Hardcover. First Edition. Octavo, bound in original decorated green cloth, stamped in black and gold. London: Sampson Low, Marston, Searle & Rivington, 1879. #10719.
Stains along edges of endpapers. Inner hinges cracked, but still holding. There is a bit of fraying at spine ends and rubbing to corners. Good or better copy of a book scarce in any condition.
The novel is a direct theological and political response to the secular progressivism of the 1870s, and despite its polemical purpose it is also genuinely readable, with a plot involving the protagonist's relationships with characters who represent different positions within the future society. Errata slip laid in. 32-page publisher's catalogue dated "October, 1879" inserted at rear. Very rare.
Hardcover. First Edition. Octavo, bound in original decorated green cloth, stamped in black and gold. London: Sampson Low, Marston, Searle & Rivington, 1879. #10719.
Stains along edges of endpapers. Inner hinges cracked, but still holding. There is a bit of fraying at spine ends and rubbing to corners. Good or better copy of a book scarce in any condition.
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