The Moon Hoax, Richard Adams Locke. First Edition Thus.

The Moon Hoax, Richard Adams Locke

First edition thus of one of the most famous newspaper hoaxes of the nineteenth century. First published in six installments in the New York Sun in August 1835, Locke’s account credited the astronomer John Herschel with discovering a Moon inhabited by unicorns, walking beavers, and winged, humanlike creatures. Elaborate descriptions of Herschel’s supposed telescope gave the fantasy an air of scientific authority, helping turn it into a sensation. This 1859 edition reprints the narrative with a lunar frontispiece.

New York: William Gowans, 1859. With the lunar frontispiece dated 1856. Original printed wrappers, with black cloth reinforcement to the spine. 63 pp. Text block intact but loose within the wrappers, with exposed sewing and some loosening and tearing at the inner margins. Wrappers rubbed and worn, with chipping, marginal losses and closed tears to the wrappers and leaves, particularly along the lower edges. Contents generally clean, with toning, some soiling and occasional minor stains. A candidate for sympathetic rebinding, retaining the lunar frontispiece and both wrappers.