The Shape of Things to Come was published by Hutchinson in September 1933 and represents Wells’s final major attempt at prophecy — a speculative future history stretching from the 1930s to the year 2106. Written when Wells was sixty-seven and increasingly pessimistic about humanity’s ability to avoid self-destruction, the novel predicts a second world war (beginning in 1940 with a conflict over Poland — remarkably close to reality), the collapse of nation-states, a prolonged period of chaos and plague, and the eventual emergence of a technocratic world government led by scientists and engineers.
The Novel
The novel is framed as a “dream book” — the manuscript of a diplomat named Philip Raven, who has been receiving visions of a future history textbook in his sleep. This device allows Wells to write in the mode of a historian rather than a novelist, jumping across decades and continents, summarizing social movements and technological developments with the authority of hindsight.
The most striking section is the prediction of the second world war and its aftermath: Wells describes the destruction of European cities, the collapse of financial systems, and a devastating plague that kills millions. From this chaos emerges the “Air Dictatorship” — a global technocracy of aviators and engineers who impose rational governance by force, eventually giving way to a democratic world state.
Themes
The failure of democracy — Wells, by 1933, had lost faith in democratic politics. His technocratic utopia is explicitly anti-democratic: the world is saved not by the people but by an elite of scientists and engineers who know better.
Technology as salvation — the “Air Dictatorship” rules through technological superiority, and the eventual world state is organized around scientific principles. Wells believed that only the scientific method, applied to governance, could produce a just society.
The inevitability of catastrophe — like The World Set Free, this novel argues that humanity will not reform voluntarily. Only the shock of near-extinction will force the creation of rational global institutions.
The Film
The novel was adapted by Wells himself into the screenplay for Things to Come (1936), produced by Alexander Korda and directed by William Cameron Menzies. The film — with its spectacular sets, its vision of future cities, and its famous final speech (“All the universe — or nothingness. Which shall it be?”) — became one of the most influential science fiction films ever made and remains visually stunning.
Collecting The Shape of Things to Come
First edition (Hutchinson & Co., London, 1933): Orange cloth binding with black lettering. Dust jacket features a globe design.
Market values (with dust jacket):
- Fine in dust jacket: $1,500–$4,000
- Very good in dust jacket: $600–$1,500
- Without dust jacket: $100–$300
First American edition (Macmillan, New York, 1933): Published simultaneously. $400–$1,200 in dust jacket.
The novel’s association with the Korda film increases its collecting profile significantly.