The interior of the sphere

Claude Shepperson

Photomechanical reproduction of a watercolour

H.G. Wells, ‘The First Men in the Moon,’ The Strand 21 (Jan–Jun 1901): 36.

An image of Bedford and Cavor, their clothes billowing weightlessly, as they near the Moon. Shepperson focuses on what would become a very familiar image in Science Fiction, as Earthlings peer out of a window at the approach of a new world. The artist depicts the interior in rounded, organic terms, in contrast to its geometrical exterior. The effect is organically womb-like, as if the occupants of the craft are about to be re-born into a novel life. [Click on the image to enlarge it, and mouse over the ret for links.]

Scanned image and text by Simon Cooke.