Three Hundred Years Hence - or, A Voice from Posterity
Future history dystopia, 1881
Three Hundred Years Hence by William Delisle Hay is an 1881 dystopian novel projecting a future three centuries ahead. It combines remarkable scientific foresight with deeply troubling themes of racial superiority. This second edition was published the same year as the first edition, according to George Locke, who also claims he never saw an example of the first edition.
Hardcover. Second Edition. Octavo, black pebble-grained cloth, stamped in gilt on spine; front cover raised white lettering on black panel pasted onto front cover. London: Newman & Co., 1881. Locke, A Spectrum of Fantasy Vol. II, p.58. #11270.
Slight spine lean with a short tear at crown of spine. Overall, a very good copy.
Hardcover. Second Edition. Octavo, black pebble-grained cloth, stamped in gilt on spine; front cover raised white lettering on black panel pasted onto front cover. London: Newman & Co., 1881. Locke, A Spectrum of Fantasy Vol. II, p.58. #11270.
Slight spine lean with a short tear at crown of spine. Overall, a very good copy.
Additional Details
Three Hundred Years Hence by William Delisle Hay, published in 1881, is a lesser-known work compared to his Doom of the Great City, yet it stands out as a unique and controversial entry in early dystopian literature. The novel imagines a future three centuries ahead, depicting a world transformed by extraordinary scientific progress and a staggering global population of 180 billion. Hay envisions human ingenuity rising to meet these challenges through technological marvels such as underwater dome cities and advanced energy-harnessing techniques. In this respect, the novel functions as an early expression of transhumanist thought, reflecting 19th-century optimism in science as humanity’s ultimate redeemer.
Yet this futuristic vision is deeply compromised by Hay’s application of Darwin’s theories of Natural Selection to race, mirroring the era’s burgeoning eugenics movement and contemporary fascination with Darwinism. The narrative disturbingly advocates white supremacy, culminating in the portrayal of the systematic extermination of non-white races as a “natural” evolutionary progression toward an all-white utopian world. Although the novel offers vivid and imaginative depictions of advanced future societies—ideas that George Locke suggests may have helped inspire H. G. Wells—its racial ideology is profoundly objectionable by any standard. Whether the prejudice originates with the narrator or with Hay himself, the text is outright racist, presenting Western civilization and Christianity as the pinnacle of human development.
This unsettling blend of forward-looking scientific speculation with abhorrent racial theory creates a complicated case for the novel’s place in the history of speculative fiction. It is possible that Hay intended the work as a thought experiment, exploring the extreme consequences of applying Natural Selection to human races; alternatively, it might have been conceived as satire, though nothing in the text clearly supports that reading. What remains undeniable is that the novel presents one of the most dystopian visions imaginable for our future—a master race scenario that anticipates the most extreme racial ideologies of the twentieth century.
Yet this futuristic vision is deeply compromised by Hay’s application of Darwin’s theories of Natural Selection to race, mirroring the era’s burgeoning eugenics movement and contemporary fascination with Darwinism. The narrative disturbingly advocates white supremacy, culminating in the portrayal of the systematic extermination of non-white races as a “natural” evolutionary progression toward an all-white utopian world. Although the novel offers vivid and imaginative depictions of advanced future societies—ideas that George Locke suggests may have helped inspire H. G. Wells—its racial ideology is profoundly objectionable by any standard. Whether the prejudice originates with the narrator or with Hay himself, the text is outright racist, presenting Western civilization and Christianity as the pinnacle of human development.
This unsettling blend of forward-looking scientific speculation with abhorrent racial theory creates a complicated case for the novel’s place in the history of speculative fiction. It is possible that Hay intended the work as a thought experiment, exploring the extreme consequences of applying Natural Selection to human races; alternatively, it might have been conceived as satire, though nothing in the text clearly supports that reading. What remains undeniable is that the novel presents one of the most dystopian visions imaginable for our future—a master race scenario that anticipates the most extreme racial ideologies of the twentieth century.
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