This month brings a rare chance for Calgarians to check out some local treasures not many people know about.
An exhibit featuring the work of British author H.G. Wells pays tribute to one of the giants of science fiction.
Staff at the University of Calgary are now putting together an exhibit showcasing Wells’ books and other materials dating back to the 1890s.
Over the years, the university has amassed one of North America’s biggest collections of H.G. Wells items.
“It’s massive,” curator Annie Murray said.
The display Murray is finalizing includes British and American first editions of such Wells classics as The Time Machine, The Invisible Man and The War of the Worlds.
The exhibit highlights how so much of the future Wells depicted in his work has now become part of our daily reality.
“These are some of the things Wells imagined in his books: television, video-conferencing, wireless communication, networked computers, online shopping,” Murray said.
The exhibit, “H.G. Wells: A Scientific Romance,” runs from April 11 to July 19 in the Nickle Galleries at the U of C’s Taylor Family Digital Library.
“H.G. Wells was so popular that postcards were made of him,” Murray said, referring to one of the items included in the exhibit.
Murray and others connected with the exhibit will be displaying some of the items at the Calgary Comic and Entertainment Expo, which runs from April 25 to April 28 at Stampede Park.
“It’s where the sci-fi nerds are,” Murray said with a laugh.
About 130 years after first getting so many people fired up about the future, Wells is still very much a man of the moment.
“The Island of Doctor Moreau from 1896 talked about manipulating animals’ genes, operating on humans and turning them into beasts, a good early example of a mad scientist,” Murray said.
“There is actually going to be a new movie of this and Anthony Hopkins is going to be Doctor Moreau.”
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