The food of the gods.

London [and] Glasgow : Collins’ Clear-Type Press, [n.d.]. Small octavo (173 x 110 mm), publisher’s blue cloth with ‘H. G. Wells’ stamped in gilt on upper board (both boards with scattered marks), spine lettered in gilt (spine slightly rolled); illustrated endpapers, the front free-endpaper with ownership signature of C. E. Kelsey (see below); pp. vi, 311; some light foxing to last couple of leaves, otherwise clean and sound.

A 1920s pocket edition of Wells’ science fiction novel, first published in 1904.

This copy has a nice association, as it is from the library of Cyril E. Kelsey and his wife Enid (Steele) Kelsey. The Kelseys were associated with H. G. Wells, George Bernard Shaw, Edith Nesbit and her husband Hubert Bland, and the Pankhursts, through their membership in the Fabian Society. Their residence was 17 Northway (and later, 12 Wordsworth Walk), Temple Fortune, London, NW11, close to Hampstead, an area well known for its concentration of middle-class intellectuals including Fabians and Socialists. Both Cyril and Enid were silversmiths, and as members of the Guild of Handicraft were prominent in the Arts & Crafts movement. Enid was also a keen amateur thespian, and she and her husband co-wrote a play in the 1930s entitled The Stars.

Provenance: Cyril E. Kelsey and Enid (Steele) Kelsey; thence by descent.