Pictures of the Socialistic Future - (freely adapated from Bebel)

Pictures of the Socialistic Future (1891) is a satirical dystopian novel by Eugen Richter, a leading liberal member of the German Reichstag and a prominent opponent of the Social Democrats. First published in Germany in 1891 as Sozialdemokratische Zukunftsbilder: Frei nach Bebel, the book became widely circulated in the years before the First World War and was translated into English in 1893 by Henry Wright. Told through the diary of an ordinary German citizen, it traces the rapid transformation of society following a socialist revolution. Production falters, individual freedoms dissolve, families are separated, emigration is banned, and the borders are patrolled by troops ordered to shoot those attempting to flee. Richter's novel is among the earliest political dystopias to imagine a fully bureaucratized collectivist state, anticipating many later depictions of totalitarian social control decades before We, Brave New World, and Nineteen Eighty-Four. First English edition, published by Swan Sonnenschein in London in 1893.

Hardcover. First English Edition. Octavo, original maroon bevel-edged boards, front and spine panels stamped in gilt. Authorised translation by Henry Wright. London: Swan Sonnenschein & Co., 1893. #11363.
Front hinge starting and missing the front free endpaper. There is offsetting on the title page from a previous owner's bookplate on the pastedown. Minor wear to extremities and slight pushing at spine ends. Overall, the gilt lettering remains bright, and the book is still in very good condition.