The Invisible Man. A Grotesque Romance. London: C Arthur Pearson Ltd 1897. First Edition. Pp vii, 245, [2]. Publisher’s red cloth boards, title in gilt to upper cover & spine, drawing in black to upper cover. Light wear to covers, new endpapers, contents in very good condition.

One of Wells’ most important novels, among the work that paved the way for modern Science Fiction. Originally serialized in Pearson’s Weekly in 1897, it was published as a novel the same year.

The Invisible Man of the title is Griffin, a scientist who has devoted himself to research into optics and invents a way to change a body’s refractive index to that of air so that it neither absorbs nor reflects light and thus becomes invisible.