New York: The Vanguard Press, (1930). Hardcover first edition - Originally published in 1901, first in shorter form as a serial and then as a book, this dark, desolate and fantastical novel was a pioneer in apocalyptic fiction, and the first great science fiction work of the twentieth century. It was praised by authors such as H. P. Lovecraft and H.G. Wells. In the 1920s, this was revised by the author, by tightening the language, but not changing the plot. This Vanguard edition has the revised text. It "tells the grandly bleak story of Adam Jeffson: the first man to reach the North Pole and the last man left alive on earth. A sweet-smelling, deadly cloud of poisonous gas has devastated the world, and as Jeffson travels the stricken globe in search of human life, he slowly succumbs to madness, and unleashes fire and destruction on his planet." ix, 294 pp.