In April 1897, 'Pearson’s Magazine' published a new serialisation, written by H G. Wells, the young up-and-coming writer who was taking the literary world by storm. 'The War of the Worlds' was Wells’ third novel and was to be become one of his most well-known works.
'The War of the Worlds' describes the invasion of earth by deadly Martians. We witness the firing of the rockets on Mars that send the Martians to Earth, the landing of the first “cylinder” in Horsell Common and the massacre that follows. The Martians then move through Surrey, destroying as they go, before being destroyed themselves not by humans but by bacteria.
Wells had extraordinary attention to detail: almost every place and landmark in the tale is depicted accurately to life. In his autobiography, 'Experiment in Autobiography', Wells noted that he used to cycle around Woking, “marking down suitable places and people for destruction by my Martians”.
In writing 'The War of the Worlds', Wells added a whole new sub-genre to the fledgling science fiction genre: invasion from Space, which played on the popularity of the relatively new ‘invasion’ stories. 'The War of the Worlds' takes the general theme of invasion and elevates the terror level by making the enemy into the ‘unknown’.
Wells was writing for an increasingly better educated populace, who were keenly aware of global events and of Britain’s place within the world. By comparing the invading Martians to the British explorers of earlier in the century and likening the genocide threatened by the invaders to those carried out by the British and other Europeans he created an ironic inevitability about humanity’s demise that added to the terror.
Serialisation in 'Pearson's Magazine'
The serialisation of 'The War of the Worlds' in 'Pearson’s Magazine' was a popular and common method of releasing and publicising novels and had been used by various well-known authors including Charles Dickens and Arthur Conan Doyle.
The novel was released a chapter at a time in the monthly magazine, with each extract usually ending on a cliffhanger to entice the readers to buy the next edition. The first instalment (April 1897) ended with the Martians appearing from within the cylinder and terror descending on those gathered nearby.
The later novelisation of the story allowed Wells to change many aspects of the original. The book form contains an extra chapter and a more in-depth analysis of the moral implications of invasion and colonisation.
Illustrations
The illustrations for 'The War of the Worlds' were undertaken by Cosmo Rowe and Warwick Goble in conjunction with Swain Studios. The serialisation is opened in dramatic style by Cosmo Rowe with a terrified horseman fleeing an almost invisible heat ray. We are unable to see the machine that is creating the ray, the imagining of the monsters is left to Warwick Goble.
Wells is credited with breaking ground in science fiction writing, introducing completely new ideas to people that would have been very difficult to visualise. Goble had to try to imagine something never before seen and the illustrations he produced were just as groundbreaking as Wells’ words.
Revolutionary as they were, Wells was originally unhappy with Goble’s illustrations of the tripods, which he thought too stiff and almost comical. In the novelisation of the story, he added a paragraph explaining in the voice of the narrator that the original illustrations that readers may have seen in pamphlets at the time of the invasion were grossly inaccurate and were clearly rendered by someone who had never seen the creatures and was extrapolating from second-hand information. However, in later years he softened his opinion and admitted that he thought that Goble had in fact done a good job.
As we progress through the story, the title headings become more dramatic, reflecting the devastation that the Martians have brought with them. As the mystery of the aliens becomes submerged beneath the relentless slaughter, we return from science fiction to classic Victorian gothic horror, with the final illustration showing the narrator being haunted by a wall of ghouls with the Martians reduced to a shadowy figure in the background.
In 2025, we received volumes III (3) and IV (4) of 'Pearson’s Magazine', 1897, which had been purchased by Hamish MacGillivray for the 2013 ‘Alien Invasion’ exhibition at The Lightbox in Woking.
A longer version of this article can be read on the Exploring Surrey's Past website.
Images
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- Front cover of 'Pearson's Magazine', 1897
- 'The War of the Worlds' title headers in 'Pearson's Magazine', May and September 1897
- First instalment of 'The War of the Worlds' in 'Pearson's Magazine', April 1897
- Tripod illustration in 'Pearson's Magazine', June 1897
- Final illustration of last instalment of 'The War of the Worlds' in 'Pearson's Magazine', December 1897