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My copy of this volume is a low-priced hardover reprint from 1970 of a 1927 original. There were many impressions over the years; this one is the 21st impression. Ernest Benn in London and St. Martins in New York apparently put out identical editions; like the Modern Library Giants this is well-bound with very thin, very white and acid-free pages and a quite readable typeface - all in all, an excellent physical book for years of joy.
As to the stories - this is more-or-less every piece of short fiction Wells ever published. I say more-or-less because there are some small pieces of ephemera that were at one time published in papers or magazines that the author chose not to collect; some of these were later published in the 2001 Orion Publishing "Complete Short Stories" which is itself out of print and fetching very high prices. For all but the really hardcore Wellsian or academic, this Benn/St. Martins edition, or the Phoenix, or any other popular-priced edition will probably do just fine.
There are 63 stories in all; not every one of them is technically a "short story"; the book includes, as many Wells collections do, his first, short novel of 1895, THE TIME MACHINE, which made his name and remains his most famous and conceivably greatest work of science fiction. Also included are the near-novel-length A STORY OF THE STONE AGE and A STORY OF THE DAYS TO COME (both 1897) - the latter almost an alternate version of WHEN THE SLEEPER AWAKES published a couple of years later.
Of course it is for his flights of fantasy and scientific imagination that Wells was, and is, best known for, and certainly a great many of the best stories here fall into those categories; my personal favorites are probably "The Country of the Blind", "The New Accelerator", "The Red Room" (a creepy Poe-like horror tale), "The Man Who Could Work Miracles", "The Star", "The Magic Shop", and especially "The Door in the Wall" which I would rank among the greatest of all short stories in English. But there are a number of realistic stories too, most dealing with life among the lower and lower middle classes, and many of these are quite striking as well - I challenge anyone not to be unnerved by story of the jealous lover and his vengeance in "The Cone", for example.
Nothing but the stories here - no preface, no introduction, no information on original publications, footnotes - just these great, timeless works that have sadly fallen into neglect but are highly deserving of rediscovery.
As to the stories - this is more-or-less every piece of short fiction Wells ever published. I say more-or-less because there are some small pieces of ephemera that were at one time published in papers or magazines that the author chose not to collect; some of these were later published in the 2001 Orion Publishing "Complete Short Stories" which is itself out of print and fetching very high prices. For all but the really hardcore Wellsian or academic, this Benn/St. Martins edition, or the Phoenix, or any other popular-priced edition will probably do just fine.
There are 63 stories in all; not every one of them is technically a "short story"; the book includes, as many Wells collections do, his first, short novel of 1895, THE TIME MACHINE, which made his name and remains his most famous and conceivably greatest work of science fiction. Also included are the near-novel-length A STORY OF THE STONE AGE and A STORY OF THE DAYS TO COME (both 1897) - the latter almost an alternate version of WHEN THE SLEEPER AWAKES published a couple of years later.
Of course it is for his flights of fantasy and scientific imagination that Wells was, and is, best known for, and certainly a great many of the best stories here fall into those categories; my personal favorites are probably "The Country of the Blind", "The New Accelerator", "The Red Room" (a creepy Poe-like horror tale), "The Man Who Could Work Miracles", "The Star", "The Magic Shop", and especially "The Door in the Wall" which I would rank among the greatest of all short stories in English. But there are a number of realistic stories too, most dealing with life among the lower and lower middle classes, and many of these are quite striking as well - I challenge anyone not to be unnerved by story of the jealous lover and his vengeance in "The Cone", for example.
Nothing but the stories here - no preface, no introduction, no information on original publications, footnotes - just these great, timeless works that have sadly fallen into neglect but are highly deserving of rediscovery.
