GERNSBACK, Hugo.

Inquire · Offered by Peter Harrington

Ralph 124C 41+. A Romance of the Year 2660. First edition, signed by the author on the front free endpaper, below the salutation "Sincerely Yours" in a secretarial hand. Gernsback's landmark first book has been described as "the one essential text for all studies of science fiction, a work which anticipates and contains the entire genre" (Westfahl, p. 93).Hugo Gernsback (1884-1967) serialized the work in his technical radio magazine Modern Electrics from April 1911 to March 1912 before publishing it in this expanded book form. It is "renowned for its many highly imaginative technological projections. These include clear descriptions of radar, book and newspaper microfilms and microfiches, television, plant hormones, wireless transmission of power, advanced electric automobiles, antigravity screens, thought-recording devices, weather control, spaceships, and many uses of radioactivity" (Bleiler). The book also prefigures the video call in the frontispiece and jacket illustration. The protagonist's alphanumeric name, "Ralph 124C 41+", encodes the phrase "one to foresee for one another", reflecting the novel's fascination with technological futurity and its underlying romantic plot.Gernsback founded his famous science fiction magazine Amazing Stories the year after he released this book and his lasting legacy is commemorated with the annual Hugo award.

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