The Island of Doctor Moreau: A Possibility by Wells, H.G - 1906

NY: Duffield, 1906. 12mo. 249 pp. Original yellow-stamped blue-green cloth.; somewhat shaken, some leaves roughly opened, but a very good copy. First American edition, third issue, with the original Stone & Kimball sheets and a new title page cancel for Duffield. Signed by Wells on the half-title below a self-caricature, showing himself seated and holding a cup of tea; the drawing by Wells is much larger (approximately 2 3/4 x 2 1/4 inches) than those previously publicized, though they are by no means common. The first American edition was published by Stone & Kimball in 1896; the next year, the Stone & Kimball sheets were issued by Stone, in a new binding stamped with his name only at the base of the spine. In 1906 Duffied purchased "the entire goodwill, assets, plates, sheets, and publishing plant of the Stone Company" (Kramer History of Stone & Kimball, p. 136). Included were copies of the Stone issue, in the Stone binding, for which Duffield printed a new title page, as here.