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The Country of the Blind and Other Selected Stories

H. G. Wells

First published 2007
Publisher Penguin Books
Format eBook
Type Collection
Cover art Kate Gibb
Price £7.99
ISBN 9780141937113


23 stories first published 1894 to 1915 "Edited by Patrick Parrinder with an introduction by Neil Gaiman and notes by Andy Sawyer" 18 of them are among the 33 that Wells selected and introduced in 1911 for The Country of the Blind and Other Stories, the original "Country of the Blind" collection.

The 2007 Penguin Classics publications contain the 1911 "Introduction". Wells introduces "this collection in one cover of all the short stories by me that I care for any one to read again. ... Many of very questionable merit find a place; it is an inclusive and not an exclusive gathering. ... The bulk of the fifty or sixty tales from which this present three-and-thirty have been chosen dates from the last century." Wells had nearly ceased writing short stories, he says.

(By "short stories" Wells means ISFDB short stories and novelettes, approximately. He sets aside the two novellas contained in his four 1895 to 1903 collections, "A Story of the Stone Age" (selected here) and "A Story of the Days to Come".)


New Edition. Amazon Kindle's page count 462. Data from Amazon UK as of 2015-11-03. Price from W. H. Smith as of 2014-04-20.

The sequence of Contents below is from the Contents list viewed as "Look inside" at Amazon 2019-04-17, which concludes with "Follow Penguin" (not listed here). The 31 listed Contents are those of the paperback format and the sequence of 24 works by Wells is identical. The front and back arrangement of the editorial contents differs.

Page Title Author(s) Type
|0 Introduction (The Country of the Blind and Other Selected Stories) Neil Gaiman Essay
|1 The Lord of the Dynamos H. G. Wells Short Story
|10 The Story of the Late Mr Elvesham H. G. Wells Short Story
|101 Introduction (The Country of the Blind and Other Stories) H. G. Wells Essay
|102 Wells's London and Surrounding Region Andy Sawyer Essay
|103 Notes (The Country of the Blind and Other Selected Stories) Andy Sawyer Essay
|104 Further Reading (The Country of the Blind and Other Selected Stories) Patrick Parrinder Essay
|105 Glossary (The Country of the Blind and Other Selected Stories) Andy Sawyer Essay
|106 Biographical Note (The Country of the Blind and Other Selected Stories) Patrick Parrinder Essay
|107 Note on the Texts (The Country of the Blind and Other Selected Stories) Patrick Parrinder Essay
|11 In the Abyss H. G. Wells Short Story
|12 The Sea Raiders H. G. Wells Short Story
|13 The Crystal Egg H. G. Wells Short Story
|14 A Story of the Stone Age H. G. Wells Novella
|15 The Star H. G. Wells Short Story
|16 The Man Who Could Work Miracles H. G. Wells Short Story
|17 A Dream of Armageddon H. G. Wells Novelette
|18 The New Accelerator H. G. Wells Short Story
|19 The Truth About Pyecraft H. G. Wells Short Story
|2 The Remarkable Case of Davidson's Eyes H. G. Wells Short Story
|20 The Country of the Blind H. G. Wells Novelette
|21 The Empire of the Ants H. G. Wells Short Story
|22 The Door in the Wall H. G. Wells Short Story
|23 The Wild Asses of the Devil H. G. Wells Short Story
|3 The Moth H. G. Wells Short Story
|4 A Catastrophe H. G. Wells Short Story
|5 The Cone H. G. Wells Short Story
|6 The Argonauts of the Air H. G. Wells Short Story
|7 Under the Knife H. G. Wells Short Story
|8 A Slip Under the Microscope H. G. Wells Short Story
|9 The Plattner Story H. G. Wells Short Story

Title Year Publisher Format Type Catalog ID Cover Artist Pages
The Country of the Blind and Other Selected Stories Cover 2007 Penguin Books Trade Paperback Collection Kate Gibb xxxii+432