''Journey to Venus the Primeval World; Its Wonderful Creations and Gigantic Monsters'' is an

1895 Events January–March * January 5 – Dreyfus affair: French officer Alfred Dreyfus is stripped of his army rank, and sentenced to life imprisonment on Devil's Island. * January 12 – The National Trust for Places of Histor ...

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel unive ...

novel written by

Gustavus W. Pope Gustavus may refer to: *Gustavus, Alaska, a small community located on the edge of Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve *Gustavus Adolphus College, a private liberal arts college in southern Minnesota *Gustavus (name), a given name **Gustavus, the ...

. The book was a sequel to Pope's novel of the previous year, ''

Journey to Mars ''Journey to Mars the Wonderful World: Its Beauty and Splendor; Its Mighty Races and Kingdoms; Its Final Doom'' is an 1894 in literature, 1894 science fiction novel written by Gustavus W. Pope. (The author called his work a "scientific novel.") T ...

''. The ''Venus'' volume features the same hero and heroine, Lt. Frederick Hamilton,

USN The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage of ...

, and his love interest the Martian princess Suhlamia. They travel to Venus on a Martian "ethervolt" spacecraft. The publisher promoted the book as "full of exciting adventures, hairbreadth escapes, and perilous vicissitudes, among primeval monsters and semi-human creatures, the episodes following each other in such breathless succession that the interest of the reader never flags." It is considered one of the first treatments of Venus in science fiction. Modern critics have noted the book largely for its depiction of giant

dinosaur Dinosaurs are a diverse group of reptiles of the clade Dinosauria. They first appeared during the Triassic period, between 243 and 233.23 million years ago (mya), although the exact origin and timing of the evolution of dinosaurs is t ...

-like Venusian beasts. Pope's pair of novels on

Mars Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun and the second-smallest planet in the Solar System, only being larger than Mercury (planet), Mercury. In the English language, Mars is named for the Mars (mythology), Roman god of war. Mars is a terr ...

and

Venus Venus is the second planet from the Sun. It is sometimes called Earth's "sister" or "twin" planet as it is almost as large and has a similar composition. As an interior planet to Earth, Venus (like Mercury) appears in Earth's sky never fa ...

(volumes in a projected ''Romances of the Planets'' series that the author never continued) were precursors of popular planetary adventure novels of the twentieth century by

Edgar Rice Burroughs Edgar Rice Burroughs (September 1, 1875 – March 19, 1950) was an American author, best known for his prolific output in the adventure, science fiction, and fantasy genres. Best-known for creating the characters Tarzan and John Carter, he ...

Otis Adelbert Kline Otis Adelbert Kline (July 1, 1891 – October 24, 1946) born in Chicago, Illinois, USA, was a songwriter, an adventure novelist and literary agent during the pulp era. Much of his work first appeared in the magazine ''Weird Tales''. Kline was an ...

, and other writers. The original edition of ''Journey to Venus'' from Arena Publishing Co. featured sixteen illustrations by "Miss Fairfax and Mrs. McAuley." The ensuing "paper-covered" edition reduced the illustrations to three. After the 1896 bankruptcy of Arena Publishing, ''Journey to Venus'' was reprinted in 1897 by the New York firm F. T. Neely, with the reduced number of three illustrations.

References

External links

Free downloadable PDF copy
Arena Publishing edition (with all sixteen illustrations), hosted by Toronto Public Library 1895 American novels 1895 science fiction novels American science fiction novels Space exploration novels Novels set on Venus Planetary romances {{1890s-sf-novel-stub