An Uncommon Signed Photograph of “The Father of Science Fiction,” H.G. Wells

H.G. Wells was a pioneering writer of science-fiction works, including “The Time Machine” and “War of the Worlds,” who had a great influence on our vision of the future. If anything, his work is more revenant today than when it came out.

In 1895, while still in his 20s, Wells became an overnight literary sensation with the publication of the novel “The Time Machine”. The book was about an English scientist who develops a time travel machine. While entertaining, the work also explored social and scientific topics, from class conflict to evolution. Wells continued to write early examples of science fiction. In quick succession, he published the “The Island of Doctor Moreau”,”The Invisible Man”, and in 1898 his classic “The War of the Worlds”. In “The Invisible Man”, Wells explores the life of another scientist who undergoes a dark personal transformation after turning himself invisible. “The War of the Worlds”, a novel about an alien invasion. On Halloween night of 1938, Orson Welles went on the air with his adaptation of “The War of the Worlds”, claiming that aliens had landed in New Jersey. It caused a panic.

In 1920, Wells published “The Outline of History”, perhaps his best selling work during his lifetime. This three-volume tome began with prehistory and followed the world’s events up through World War I. Wells believed there would be another major war to follow, and in 1939 he was proven right. So many of his predictions for the future came true in the ensuing years that he is sometimes called “the Father of Futurism.” But perhaps he is best known as “the Father of Science Fiction.”

An 8 by 10 inch photograph of Wells, inscribed, dated, and signed, “For Dr. Carl Heymann, All good wishes for the New Year (36), H.G. Wells.” Heymann was a noted chemist.

Uncommon, as this is our first signed photograph of him, and we can find just two others reaching the public sale market in the last dozen years.