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A Strange Manuscript Found in a Copper Cylinder us a satiric and fantastic romance is set in an imaginary semi-tropical land in Antarctica inhabited by prehistoric monsters and a cult of death-worshipers called the Kosekin. Begun many years before it was published, it is reminiscent of Edgar Allan Poe's The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket and anticipates the exotic locale and fantasy-adventure elements of works of the “Lost World genre” such as Arthur Conan Doyle's The Lost World and Edgar Rice Burroughs'The Land That Time Forgot, as well as innumerable prehistoric world movies based loosely on these and other works.

A Strange Manuscript Found in a Copper Cylinder (1888) is a novel by James De Mille. Originally serialized in Harper's Weekly, the novel was published posthumously and, at first, anonymously. Although De Mille's work predated such popular Lost World novels as H. Rider Haggard's She (1887) and King Solomon's Mines (1885), it was published nearly a decade after his death, leading critics to assume he had merely written a derivative work of fiction. Recent scholarship, however, has sought to emphasize De Mille's talents as a writer and importance in the historical development of literary science fiction. “The wind had failed, a deep calm had succeeded, and everywhere, as far as the eye could reach, the water was smooth and glassy. The yacht rose and fell at the impulse of the long ocean undulations, and the creaking of the spars sounded out a lazy accompaniment to the motion of the vessel.” Sailing in their yacht, a crew spots a copper cylinder afloat on the sunbeaten sea. Hauling it aboard, they open it to reveal a manuscript sealed from the elements containing the story of Adam More. Shipwrecked while returning to Britain from Tasmania, the sailor found himself stranded on a strange desert island near Antarctica. Soon, he stumbles upon a lost world of prehistoric plants and animals, a land of indescribable beauty and wonder. In the harsh volcanic landscape, he discovers a race of humans whose values are entirely foreign to his Western frame of mind. This edition of James De Mille's A Strange Manuscript Found in a Copper Cylinder is a classic work of American science fiction reimagined for modern readers. Since our inception in 2020, Mint Editions has kept sustainability and innovation at the forefront of our mission. Each and every Mint Edition title gets a fresh, professionally typeset manuscript and a dazzling new cover, all while maintaining the integrity of the original book. With thousands of titles in our collection, we aim to spotlight diverse public domain works to help them find modern audiences. Mint Editions celebrates a breadth of literary works, curated from both canonical and overlooked classics from writers around the globe.

This vintage book contains James De Mille's 1871 novella,'Fire in the Woods'. Originally published as part of the'Brethren of the White Cross'series, it follows the adventures of a group of boys at a Canadian boarding school. A charming and humourous tale,'Fire in the Woods'would make for ideal bedtime reading and is not to be missed by fans and collectors of De Mille's work. Contents include:'On a Visit','A Fascinating and a Temptation','Secret Plans','An Exciting Letter','Where's Old Solomon?','Arrival of an Opportunity','The Opportunity Seized','A Hazardous Adventure','The Island in the Falls','The Island in the Fall', et cetera. James de Mille (1833 - 1880) was a well known writer, specialising in popular fiction during the late 1860s and early 1870s. Many vintage books such as this are increasingly scarce and expensive. We are republishing this volume now in an affordable, modern, high-quality edition complete with a specially commissioned new introduction.

Four sailors discover a copper cylinder containing a manuscript written by the adventurer Adam More, who was shipwrecked in the southern hemisphere. They read its contents out to one another, and the incredible story unfolds of his journey through a subterranean tunnel to a lost world which survives at the foot of a volcano. This strange utopian society, in which humans coexist with prehistoric animals, is the antithesis of Victorian England, as poverty is preferred to wealth and darkness to light. At once a timeless satire and a pioneering work of the science-fiction genre,'A Strange Manuscript Found in a Copper Cylinder'is bound to enthral readers today and revive James De Mille's reputation as a writer ahead of his time.