Ultimo: An Imaginative Narration of Life Under the Earth
New York: E.P. Dutton & Company, 1930. Very Good -. Item #46960
New York: E.P. Dutton & Company, 1930. First Trade Edition. Quarto (26cm); unpaginated. Boards bound in blue cloth with black stamping to front panel and spine. Lacks dust jacket. Twenty-one full-page illustrations. Boards bumped. Binding sound. Textblock, endsheets, and interior pages toned; first free endsheet shows smudging. Former owner’s bookplate at first fixed endsheet. Very Good minus.
Ultimo imagines a future in which earth has become so inhospitable to humans that they must retreat beneath the surface of the earth. In this subterranean civilization, social conventions like marriage become foreign and scientific progress accelerates. Over time, inhabitants’ curiosity grows and a group develops a spaceship-like device that will deliver passengers to the surface of the earth. Text accompanied by striking art deco- and cubist-style illustrations by the author’s husband, industrial designer John Vassos.
Kessler, Daring to Dream p273.
Price: $150.00