The Man in the Moone (Broadview Editions)
"A remarkable tale of lunar travel and utopian vision, The Man in the Moone was written by an English bishop sometime around 1630. Drawing on the latest news of travel and warfare from the Atlantic to China and on the latest theories in magnetism, astronomy, and navigation, the story offers an unparalleled window onto its intellectual and cultural world. It also had an impressive afterlife, inspiring celebrated works on imaginative travel and comic satire, earning a mention on some lunar maps, and inspiring writers such as Verne and Wells. This splendid edition by William Poole offers newly authoritative commentary with indispensable annotations on the novel’s sources and significance. Poole's cleverly chosen appendices add rich materials from contemporary and subsequent texts." (Simon Schaffer)"William Poole's edition of The Man in the Moone offers a scholarly, accessible, and thoroughly contextualized presentation of this under-appreciated science fiction classic. First published in 1638 and influential for more than a century, The Man in the Moone absorbed a variety of literary, historical, religious, and scientific traditions. It playfully blends the new cosmological lore of the scientific revolution and the new geographical knowledge of the age of discovery with the artful fancy of an inventive imagination. This authoritative edition, with well chosen notes and appendices, presents the Bishop of Hereford's fancy as the founding text of English science fiction." (David Cressy)