The Iron Heel

New York: The Macmillan Company, 1908. First Edition. Hard Cover. Near Fine/No Jacket. 7x6x2. First edition. Minor imperfections to illustration on front board, ink name, date, and address on front endpaper, small drug store sticker from Reno, Nevada on rear endpaper. Binding tight, text clean, bright, and unmarked, gilt titles on spine exceptionally strong. 1908 Hard Cover. xiv, 354 pp., [4] publisher catalog. Original blue cloth. 8vo. A dystopian novel which plays out capitalism run rampant to a possible future in which America is under the power of a fascist dictatorship (the Iron Heel). Socialism and capitalism clash throughout, and much of London's speculation bears a startling resemblance to the first half of the twentieth century. The Iron Heel is considered by many the first dystopian novel. It is also a possible source of George Orwell's title for his famous dystopian novel Nineteen Eighty-Four: the footnote on p. 303 stated 'Asgard was not completed until 1984,' Asgard being the supposed Utopian city, which was actually built at the expense of many serfs' lives, and where many lived in poverty. Negley 703. Bleiler 1354. (Inventory #: 2347222)