2 parts in one, 8vo (173 x 102 mm). Engraved frontispiece. (Some slight marginal worming, a few headlines in part 2 trimmed.) Contemporary calf, spine in 6 compartments with 5 raised bands (front board detached, some soiling to interior boards, rubbing). Provenance: Reverend William Coddington (ownership inscription on title-page); James Stevens Cox (1910-1997), British historian, author, and archivist; previously sold his sale, Forum Auctions (22 March 2018, sale 1024 lot 60).

FIRST ENGLISH EDITION. The Comical History of the States and Empires of the Worlds of the Moon and Sun was first published in 1657, and is considered to be one of the first science fiction stories, with author Arthur C. Clarke crediting it with the first literary depiction of spaceflight. It would go on to inspire countless other works of science fiction, most notably Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's Travels. Wing C7717.