I am going to try to read through some science fiction during 2022. I started with a gorgeous Easton Press deluxe edition of The Ship that Sailed to Mars written and illustrated by William Timlin. I've had the book for years but simply hadn't gotten to it.
The Ship that Sailed to Mars is extremely short, weighing in at only forty-eight pages. This volume is a reproduction of the 1925 volume, complete with dozens of images...artfully done paintings by the author's hand. It is apparent that an incredible amount of love and devotion went into creating this work. It's rare to see that....I can't think of a whole lot of books that were even illustrated by the author....The Hobbit comes to mind....Breakfast of Champions....I know there's more, but, still, it is a nice treat to go through one of them.
The book is fantastic both in content and in delivery. The unnamed protagonist, referred to only as the Old Man, sets his sights on traveling to Mars and is told by scientists that no human would never survive the journey. The man wonders if fairies could. Shortly afterwards he recruits fairies to build a flying ship at his home. His home has a dome behind it, within which they were able to complete much of the construction. Domes are unusual now and were certainly unusual in the twenties. But the "...people gave it no more attention that those other ample miracles - like the wonder of dawn or the beauty of the stars - that had been unnoticed in their midst forever." I love that quote - I think people, myself included, have a bad habit of sleep walking a little bit...of not fully appreciating the wonder of creation.
His ship, once built, promptly departs for Mars. On the way, it passes a number of other planets and stars....something which is so ridiculous that it had to be deliberate...it's part of the story and part of its delivery, which is more like a fable than a regular novel.
Upon his arrival in Mars, the Old Man finds a healthy population of Martians complete with cities, temples, and a zoo. They even donate the cow that they had stolen before leaving Earth, in the interests of having a supply of milk. to the zoo. Its first Earth creature.
The Martian society is a monarchy, complete with a Princess. She beseeches the Old Man to get her Prince, to whom she was engaged to be married, to return back to the city as he had taken residence in Thunder City, a place shrouded by lightening and misery. The Old Man agrees to this quest and travels, on the back of a flying dragon, to Thunder City. The book not only includes beautiful illustrations but is also presented with a stunning font that makes it look like a scrivener with lovely penmanship had written this down for the reader....I included an image of a page below so you can get an idea of what the book looks like. Again, it is short, but it is so well put together that it makes for a truly special read.
The Old Man's quest proceeds quickly but fantastically, much like the book itself. He even comes across a monster in a forest and only escapes due to the assistance of forest fairies, which arrive to assist him.
Ultimately, the Old Man uses his wit to build an enormous lightening rod in Thunder City, which relieves the city of perpetual lightening strikes and the accompanying misery. The Prince returns to the Princess and they get married. The Old Man reflects, near the end of the book, that Mars was a place that a man could be happy. There would be no journey to return to Earth.
I went into this book without really knowing what to expect. Indeed, I hadn't even heard of it before ordering it. It looked gorgeous and I was curious about the content due to the title and images. My curiosity was rewarded by an incredible yet simple book that was crafted to awe the reader while delivering an outstanding story that is reminiscent of myths and fables that have survived for thousands of years.