Tales of Life and Adventure

Overview:

  • Title: Tales of Life and Adventure
  • Author: H. G. Wells
  • Year: 1924
  • Publisher: W. Collins Sons
  • Price: 2/6
  • Pages: 279
  • Binding: Hardcover
  • Type: Collection
  • Title Reference: The Lord of the Dynamos
  • Notes:
    - "Manufactured in Great Britain" on copyright page. No statement of edition or printing.
    - Price on front of jacket. No credit for jacket art
    - There is no publication year in the book or on the jacket. The following information suggests 1924 is likely:
    • On back of jacket: "Messrs. Collins have secured the right of publication in cheap form of all Mr. H. G. Wells's short stories. All the best have been taken and classified under three titles: Tales of the Unexpected, Tales of Time and Space, and Tales of Life and Adventure. ... Tales of Time and Space will appear shortly."
    • Per publisher's advertisement following the FFEP, this book is one of the numbered series "Collins' 2/6 Novels" ("in shape and bulk are identical with the 7/6 book".) Tales of the Unexpected is #18 in the series, and this book, Tales of Life and Adventure, is #33. The third planned Wells collection, Tales of Time and Space, is not listed.
    • It appears the third collection was published by Collins as Tales of Wonder. There is no Wells collection titled "Tales of Time and Space" either in isfdb or on abebooks.
    • Tuck is not authoritative here: he lists only the later 1954 "Olive Classics" editions for the first two Collins collections, and does not list Tales of Wonder.
    • Per Currey, Tales of the Unexpected was published in 1924, based on "Publisher's advertisements on page 1 dated SPRING, 1924." For the other two of these Collins collections, Currey has "ca. 1923?" so is not authoritative for them.
    • If we assume "Collins' 2/6 Novels" #18 was published before #33, then Collins' H. G. Wells collections Tales of Life and Adventure and Tales of Wonder were published 1924 or later.
    – Reginald has the year as 1923