Heart of the Moon
First edition in jacket, 1928
Heart of the Moon (1928) by Francis D. Grierson is a scientific romance in which a distinguished scientist, Crispin Lawrence, is abducted by a seven-foot emissary from a civilization inhabiting the interior of the Moon and brought before its ruling council, the Supreme Seven. The Moon civilization is technologically advanced and governed by an authoritarian oligarchy whose control over its population extends to the regulation of marriage, reproduction, and movement. Women are permitted freedom until the age of twenty, at which point their lives become subject to the Seven's direction. The novel's political undercurrent involves a faction seeking to reform or overthrow this arrangement, and Lawrence becomes entangled in it partly through his friendship with the emissary Melos and a young woman named Eudora.
Grierson was a prolific author of thrillers and detective fiction in the 1920s and 1930s, and the book reads accordingly. It is fast-paced, lightly characterized, and more interested in plot than in developing its dystopian premises. The authoritarian social structure is observed rather than analyzed, and the love story is exactly what the genre typically demands. A scarce first edition, especially with the original dust jacket, even one restored as in this case.
Hardcover. First Edition. Octavo, original red cloth, front and spine panels stamped in black. London: Alston Rivers Ltd., 1928. Locke, A Spectrum of Fantasy, p.97. #11424.
Light foxing to edges of the text block. Nearly fine copy in a very good dust jacket with professional restoration to the upper third of the spine panel and the lower end of the spine, with some restoration to the corners and lower edge of the front panel. The front panel, most of the spine, and the rear panel are original. A colorful jacket, nicely restored. The jacket in any form is rare.
Grierson was a prolific author of thrillers and detective fiction in the 1920s and 1930s, and the book reads accordingly. It is fast-paced, lightly characterized, and more interested in plot than in developing its dystopian premises. The authoritarian social structure is observed rather than analyzed, and the love story is exactly what the genre typically demands. A scarce first edition, especially with the original dust jacket, even one restored as in this case.
Hardcover. First Edition. Octavo, original red cloth, front and spine panels stamped in black. London: Alston Rivers Ltd., 1928. Locke, A Spectrum of Fantasy, p.97. #11424.
Light foxing to edges of the text block. Nearly fine copy in a very good dust jacket with professional restoration to the upper third of the spine panel and the lower end of the spine, with some restoration to the corners and lower edge of the front panel. The front panel, most of the spine, and the rear panel are original. A colorful jacket, nicely restored. The jacket in any form is rare.