After London; or, Wild England - In Two Parts Part I. The Relapse into Barbarism Part II. Wild England
First edition, 1885
After London; or, Wild England (1885) by Richard Jefferies is one of the earliest works of post-apocalyptic fiction in English, imagining a future England centuries after the collapse of modern civilization. Nature has reclaimed the land, cities lie drowned or overgrown, and society has regressed to feudal territories and tribal communities. The causes of the catastrophe are never fully explained, which is itself a modernist touch unusual for 1885. First edition published by Cassell, 1885. The eight-page publisher's catalogue bound in rear is dated April 1885. According to Lloyd Currey, only approximately 1,000 copies were printed and the earliest copies are dated March 1885.
Hardcover. First Edition. Octavo, bound in ochre cloth boards stamped in black on front cover, stamped in gilt on spine, and stamped in blind on rear cover. London: Cassell & Co., 1885. Locke, A Spectrum of Fantasy, p.122. #11215.
Previous owner bookplate on the front endpaper, else very good.
Hardcover. First Edition. Octavo, bound in ochre cloth boards stamped in black on front cover, stamped in gilt on spine, and stamped in blind on rear cover. London: Cassell & Co., 1885. Locke, A Spectrum of Fantasy, p.122. #11215.
Previous owner bookplate on the front endpaper, else very good.
Additional Details
After London; or, Wild England (1885) by Richard Jefferies is one of the foundational works of post-apocalyptic fiction. Set in a future England long after the collapse of modern civilization, the novel imagines a landscape transformed by environmental catastrophe and neglect. Cities lie drowned or overgrown, the remnants of industry are reduced to enigmatic relics, and nature has reclaimed the land with quiet indifference.
The causes of the catastrophe are never fully explained. Jefferies suggests poisoned waterways, ecological collapse, and the gradual failure of infrastructure rather than a single apocalyptic event. In the centuries that follow, society has fragmented into feudal territories and tribal communities, with technology largely forgotten and history preserved only in distorted legend.
The narrative follows Felix Aquila, heir to a once-powerful estate, whose journey through this altered England serves as a means of exploring the new social order. As Felix moves through forests, marshlands, and ruined cities, he encounters rival baronies, outlaw communities, and lingering traces of the old world. His role is less that of a hero than of a witness, allowing Jefferies to examine how human ambition, violence, and hierarchy re-emerge even after civilization’s collapse.
Deeply informed by Jefferies’ lifelong engagement with the English countryside, After London presents nature not as a moral force but as an enduring one, indifferent to human loss or aspiration. The novel stands at the crossroads of environmental fiction, pastoral literature, and early speculative apocalypse. Though it predates modern climate fiction by more than a century, its vision of ecological transformation and societal regression anticipates later works such as George R. Stewart’s Earth Abides.
The causes of the catastrophe are never fully explained. Jefferies suggests poisoned waterways, ecological collapse, and the gradual failure of infrastructure rather than a single apocalyptic event. In the centuries that follow, society has fragmented into feudal territories and tribal communities, with technology largely forgotten and history preserved only in distorted legend.
The narrative follows Felix Aquila, heir to a once-powerful estate, whose journey through this altered England serves as a means of exploring the new social order. As Felix moves through forests, marshlands, and ruined cities, he encounters rival baronies, outlaw communities, and lingering traces of the old world. His role is less that of a hero than of a witness, allowing Jefferies to examine how human ambition, violence, and hierarchy re-emerge even after civilization’s collapse.
Deeply informed by Jefferies’ lifelong engagement with the English countryside, After London presents nature not as a moral force but as an enduring one, indifferent to human loss or aspiration. The novel stands at the crossroads of environmental fiction, pastoral literature, and early speculative apocalypse. Though it predates modern climate fiction by more than a century, its vision of ecological transformation and societal regression anticipates later works such as George R. Stewart’s Earth Abides.