The Encyclopedia Americana (1920)/Wells, Herbert George
WELLS, Herbert George, English author:
b. Bromley, Kent, 21 Sept. 1866. He was
educated at the Royal College of Science (South
Kensington, London), published a “Text-Book
on Biology” (1892-3), and followed this by a
series of works of fiction in which science and
mechanics are employed for the accomplishment
of various wonders narrated in the circumstantial
and plausible manner of Verne. In his
later years he was more versatile, and displayed
a tendency to discuss mystic and social subjects
in the form of fiction. He has made a place for
himself in the very front rank of modern writers.
Among them are “The Time Machine”
(1895); “Select Conversations with an Uncle”
(1895); “The Wonderful Visit” (1895); “The
Island of Dr. Moreau” (1896); “The Wheels of
Chance” (1896); “Thirty Strange Stories”
(1897); “The Invisible Man” (1897); “The War
of the Worlds” (1898); “Tales of Space and
Time” (1899); “When the Sleeper Wakes”
(1899); “Love and Mr. Lewisham” (1900);
“Anticipations” (1901); “The First Men in the
Moon” (1901); “Mankind in the Making”
(1903); “Twelve Stories and a Dream” (1903);
“The Food of the Gods” (1904); “A Modern
Utopia” (1905); “Kipps” (1905); “In the Days
of the Comet” (1906); “The Future in America”
(1906); “This Misery of Boots,” a tract
in favor of Socialism (1907); “New Worlds
for Old,” an account of Socialism (1908);
“First and Last Things,” a confession of faith
(1908); “The War in the Air” (1908); “Tone
Bungay,” a novel of contemporary life (1909);
“Ann Veronica” (1909); “The History of
Mr. Polly” (1910); “The New Machiavelli”
(1911); “Floor Games for Children” (1911);
“Marriage” (1912); “Little Wars,” a floor
game book (1913); “The Passionate Friends”
(1913); “The Wife of Sir Isaac Harman”
(1914); “An Englishman looks at the World”
(1914); “The World Set Free” (1914); “The
War that will end War” (1914); and “The
Peace of the World” (1915), war pamphlets;
“Boon,” under the pseudonym Reginald Bliss

(1915); “Bealby” (1915); “The Research
Magnificent” (1915); “What is Coming?” (1916);
“Mr. Britling Sees it Through” (1916); “The
Elements of Reconstruction,” under the
pseudonym D. P. (1916); “War and the Future”;
“God, the Invisible King”; “The Soul of a
Bishop” (1917); “The Idea of a League of
Nations” (1919). His short stories were
reprinted in a definitive collection under the title
of “The Country of the Blind” (1911), and
many of his works have been translated into
other languages.