Item #58038 A TALE OF A HALO. Morgan A. ROBERTSON.
A TALE OF A HALO
A TALE OF A HALO

A TALE OF A HALO

NY: The Truth Seeker Company, 1894. Illustrated by A. Carey K. Jurist. Scarce First Edition. Morgan Andrew Robertson [1861–1915] was an American author and the self-proclaimed inventor of the periscope. This title is apparently his rare first book- a narrative poem about heaven versus the devil. Great illustrations! Robertson is best known for his short novel Futility, or the Wreck of the Titan, first published in 1898. This story features an enormous British passenger liner called the SS Titan, which, deemed to be unsinkable, carries an insufficient number of lifeboats. On a voyage in the month of April, the Titan hits an iceberg and sinks in the North Atlantic, resulting in the loss of almost everyone on board. There are many close similarities with the real-life disaster of the RMS Titanic and was published 14 years before the actual Titanic. The similarities between the two have partially fueled conspiracy theories regarding the Titanic. In 1905, Robertson's book The Submarine Destroyer was released. It described a submarine that used a device called a periscope. Despite Robertson's later claims that he had "invented" a prototype periscope himself (and was refused a patent), Simon Lake and Harold Grubb had perfected the model used by the U.S. Navy by 1902, three years before Robertson's novel. Small 8vo., pictorial gray cloth, stamped in black & gilt; 70 pages, Item #58038

Very Good (little soil covers; contents clean & tight with small bookplate on front pastedown).

Price: $150.00

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