The Time Ship By Enrique Gasper

Author: David Weber

Sometimes translation can rescue a book from oblivion. In this instance, Gaspar was a not particularly successful novelist and playwright in the latter years of the 19th century, his work largely forgotten now even in his native Spain. But in this one curious novel, he has staked a place in the history of science fiction. In 1887, eight years before H.G. Wells produced The Time Machine and one year before Wells's first experiment with the idea in The Chronic Argonauts, Gaspar wrote about a device for travelling through time. Wells clearly knew nothing of Gaspar's work (it was not translated into English until 2013), but this is probably the first time machine in literary history. This novel has none of the depth or subtlety of Wells's work, instead Gaspar was clearly aiming for a colourful romantic adventure after the manner of Jules Verne's extraordinary voyages, with comic interludes and big set-piece scenes from history. Why it's on the list Thanks to the rescue work performed by this translation, this novel has claimed a dubious but significant place in the history of science fiction.