WELLS, H.G. [HERBERT GEORGE]. - The History of Mr. Polly.

London, Thomas Nelson & Sons. [1910]. First Edition, First Impression. Hardcover. Octavo, original dark green wove cloth titled and ruled in gilt on spine, decorated endpapers. 374 pp + [10] pp "Notes on Nelson's New Novels" at rear, Colour frontispiece. Tiny chips to gilt lettering on spine panel, a very good, bright copy. Likely, a later binding state. The first issue binding was lettered in gilt on a white enamel panel on the upper spine; this enamel notoriously flaked away even as new copies stood on bookshop shelves. This issue, with gilt titles stamped directly on the spine, may have been done as a solution to this problem. It is, however, much scarcer than the white enamel issue, & despite all this, a bookseller's note in pencil at the rear of the book states "First English Edition, First Issue". Very Good ¶ Alfred Polly, born circa 1870, is a timid and directionless young man living in Edwardian England. 'The History of Mr. Polly' has been called a "wonderful incarnation of what might have happened to Wells without education, a Wells driven to use the words bubbling in him and getting them all so delightfully muddled." Wells said his protagonist was based not on himself, but on his elder brother Frank. The novel has been called "a complete comic miracle", and was extremely popular at the time of publication.