First sale of the year has time travel theme

Posted on 6th January 2016

For many of us the start of a new year is an occasion to reflect on times past and times to come. But what if we had a machine that allowed us to travel selectively either backwards or indeed forwards to witness alien and futuristic worlds? 

This was the concept that the celebrated author HG Wells introduced in his ground-breaking book The Time Machine. Published in 1895, the novella sends its central character – identified simply as The Time Traveller - millions of years into the future before returning to Victorian England just three hours after he originally left. 

Since its publication, The Time Machine has sparked a whole genre of similarly themed works and HG Wells is widely regarded as the Father of Science Fiction, also having penned the phenomenally successful The Invisible Man (1897) and The War of the Worlds (1898). 

It is therefore very fitting that we are able to mark the start of 2016 with the sale of some personal items once owned by HG Wells and consigned to us by his granddaughter who now lives near Barnard Castle in County Durham. 

The dressing table set came from Well’s house in Regents Park, London, and comprises four brushes, a hand mirror, shoehorn and lidded container and are accompanied by a signed letter of authenticity. Together, the pieces are expected to reach between £50 and £100 when they are presented at auction on Tuesday 12 January.  

Why not make a bid and own a bit of literary history?