THE CONQUEST OF SPACE page 8
The History of a Voyage to the Moon by the pseudonymous "Crystostom Trueman" preceded the publication of Jules Verne's classic space novels by only a few months. The story of a trip to the moon by an antigravity-powered spacecraft, the book contains one of the most detailed descriptions of a spaceship in the early literature...right down to including a garden for the generation of oxygen.
A Plunge Into Space. Robert Cromie's 1890 novel contains a detailed description of a spacecraft, a realistic description of the deserts of Mars and some fascinating technological prophecies, such as televised broadcasts of concerts and plays. As most authors of interplanetary stories of his era did, Cromie uses the Martian civilization to comment on his own. Interestingly, the book contains an extremely well-drawn heroine in the form of a Martian girl, Mignonette. Foreword by Jules Verne, frontispiece and map.
Originally published in 1703, Iter Lunaire is one of the first books to discuss the real possibility of exploring space, the methods of doing so and what might be found there. Taking Cyrano De Bergerac's classic "Comic History" as its jumping-off point, author Russen discusses the pros and cons of the French writer's fanciful methods of space travel...and adds some of his own, including what may be the most unusual method of traveling to the Moon ever suggested. Along the way, Russen anticipates such modern scientific developments as the germ theory of disease and hyperlinked reference books.
To Mars via the Moon. This 1911 novel by Mark Wicks describes a journey to the moon and Mars in the anti-gravity spaceship Areonal. Heavily influenced by the work of Percival Lowell, the book is an accurate mirror of the popular interest in Mars at the time it was written. Contains the original illustrations, many of which were drawn by the author.
A Trip to Mars. Containing many ideas and devices that predate those in Edgar Rice Burroughs' classic---and better-known---"Barsoom" series, Fenton Ash's 1909 novel is one of the earliest space travel books intended for teenage readers. Illustrated.
In the early 1950s, "Professor" George Adamski laid the groundwork for all subsequent UFO contactees. In Pioneers of Space he created many of the incidents and qualities he later attributed to the "actual" inhabitants of Venus, Mars and Saturn he later claimed to have met. In addition, we get a look at some of the strange "science" this self-proclaimed astronomer believed in. "Facts" such as there must be oxygen in space otherwise the sun could not burn...
Originally published in The Southern Literary Messenger in 1844, this is one of the earliest American science fiction stories. Like many similar tales, it uses a journey to the moon to satirize contemporary society and mores.
