The Battle of Dorking
[CHESNEY, George Tompkins]
Edinburgh and London: William Blackwood and Sons. 1871.
Description:
First separate edition following its publication in Blackwood's Magazine. 8vo. 171x114mm. pp. 64, 8pp adverts. Original publisher's purple wrappers, somewhat faded and with tears to spine and the bottom outer corner torn from the lower cover. Some foxing but otherwise very good internally.
Although not the first example of imaginary invasion literature (see previous item for that), The Battle of Dorking is the best known and was the most successful. It is "a short story about an imaginary invasion of the British Isles that had alarmed the nation, astonished Europe, pleased many readers in the United States, and established the tale of the war-to-come as a favourite means of presenting arguments for - or against - changes in the naval, military, or political arrangements of a country during the years from 1871 to 1914". (I.F.Clarke, The Battle of Dorking, 1871-1914 in Victorian Studies, Vol. 8, No 4 June 1965). As Clarke says, it was the "first hot story in the first cold war".
Description:
First separate edition following its publication in Blackwood's Magazine. 8vo. 171x114mm. pp. 64, 8pp adverts. Original publisher's purple wrappers, somewhat faded and with tears to spine and the bottom outer corner torn from the lower cover. Some foxing but otherwise very good internally.
Although not the first example of imaginary invasion literature (see previous item for that), The Battle of Dorking is the best known and was the most successful. It is "a short story about an imaginary invasion of the British Isles that had alarmed the nation, astonished Europe, pleased many readers in the United States, and established the tale of the war-to-come as a favourite means of presenting arguments for - or against - changes in the naval, military, or political arrangements of a country during the years from 1871 to 1914". (I.F.Clarke, The Battle of Dorking, 1871-1914 in Victorian Studies, Vol. 8, No 4 June 1965). As Clarke says, it was the "first hot story in the first cold war".