This is an interactive timeline of the publication history of The War of the Worlds in Britain. Note that this timeline does not include information about the publication of the novel in the United States or other countries, including its serialization in Cosmopolitan Magazine or the American volume editions. See this site’s page on the novel’s background for more information.
An expanded view of the timeline is available here (links to external page) and the text of each timeline entry is presented below the timeline.
The War of the Worlds Publication Timeline
April 1897 – Pearson’s Magazine First Installment: The first installment of The War of the Worlds (Chapters I-IV) was published in the April 1897 issue of Pearson’s Magazine. Pearson’s specifically advertised the story on its cover—a rare practice for the magazine before this point. (See image: the red text at the top of the cover reads “A NEW SERIAL, by H. G. WELLS, commences in this Number.”) A facsimile of the April 1897 issue is found on HathiTrust. The full text of this installment is available on this site.
May 1897 – Pearson’s Magazine Second Installment: The second installment of The War of the Worlds (Chapters V-VIII) was published in the May 1897 issue of Pearson’s Magazine. As with the first installment, Pearson’s Magazine advertised the story in red text at the top of the cover. (See image: the text reads “INVASION OF THE EARTH BY MEN FROM MARS. See H. G. WELLS’ New Serial, in this Number.”) A facsimile of the May 1897 issue is found on HathiTrust. The full text of this installment is available on this site.
June 1897 – Pearson’s Magazine Third Installment: The third installment of The War of the Worlds (Chapters IX-XI) was published in the June 1897 issue of Pearson’s Magazine. As with the first and second installments, Pearson’s Magazine advertised the story in red text at the top of the cover. (See image: the text is the same as that of the second installment, which reads “INVASION OF THE EARTH BY MEN FROM MARS. See H. G. WELLS’ New Serial, in this Number.”) A facsimile of the June 1897 issue is found on HathiTrust. The full text of this installment is available on this site. The full text of this installment is available on this site.
July 1897 – Pearson’s Magazine Fourth Installment: The fourth installment of The War of the Worlds (Chapters XII-XIII) was published in the July 1897 issue of Pearson’s Magazine. As with the first, second, and third installments, Pearson’s Magazine advertised the story in red text at the top of the cover. (See image: the text is the same as that of the second and third installments; it reads “INVASION OF THE EARTH BY MEN FROM MARS. See H. G. WELLS’ New Serial, in this Number.”) A facsimile of the July 1897 issue is found on HathiTrust. The full text of this installment is available on this site.
August 1897 – Pearson’s Magazine Fifth Installment: The fifth installment of The War of the Worlds (Chapter XIV through the first part of Chapter XV) was published in the August 1897 issue of Pearson’s Magazine. With the popularity of the text established, Pearson’s no longer advertised the novel on its cover. A facsimile of the August 1897 issue is found on HathiTrust. The full text of this installment is available on this site.
September 1897 – Pearson’s Magazine Sixth Installment: The sixth installment of The War of the Worlds (the second part of Chapter XV through Chapter XVI) was published in the September 1897 issue of Pearson’s Magazine. With the popularity of the text established, Pearson’s no longer advertised the novel on its cover. A facsimile of the September 1897 issue is found on HathiTrust. The full text of this installment is available on this site.
October 1897 – Pearson’s Magazine Seventh Installment: The seventh installment of The War of the Worlds (Chapters XVII-XVIII) was published in the October 1897 issue of Pearson’s Magazine. With the popularity of the text established, Pearson’s no longer advertised the novel on its cover. A facsimile of the October 1897 issue is found on HathiTrust. The full text of this installment is available on this site.
November 1897 – Pearson’s Magazine Eighth Installment: The eighth installment of The War of the Worlds (Chapter XIX through the first part of Chapter XXI) was published in the November 1897 issue of Pearson’s Magazine. With the popularity of the text established, Pearson’s no longer advertised the novel on its cover. A facsimile of the November 1897 issue is found on HathiTrust. The full text of this installment is available on this site.
December 1897 – Pearson’s Magazine Ninth Installment: The ninth and final installment of The War of the Worlds (the second half of Chapter XXI through Chapter XXII) was published in the December 1897 issue of Pearson’s Magazine. This Christmas special “double number” was twice as long as a normal issue of Pearson’s and boasted “72 Pages in Colour.” Some of these “colour” pages were similar to the usual greyscale pages but used red, green, blue, or tan ink instead of black. Painterly multicolored images were created with a combination of those inks. The issue featured a full short story by Rudyard Kipling called “The Tomb of His Ancestors,” which was richly illustrated with large full-color images. The conclusion of The War of the Worlds was printed in greyscale, as the other installments were. A facsimile of the December 1897 issue is found on HathiTrust. The full text of this installment is available on this site.
1898 – The London First Edition: The first collected edition of The War of the Worlds (the “London First Edition”) was published in London by William Heinemann in 1898. Because The Invisible Man had completed its serialization (in Pearson’s Weekly and volume publication in 1897, the title page describes Wells as “Author of ‘The Time Machine,’ ‘The Island of Doctor Moreau,’ ‘The Invisible Man,’ etc.” The dedication page reads, “To my brother, Frank Wells, this rendering of his idea.” The volume was significantly revised and expanded from the serialized version. It was split into two “books” between chapters XVII (“The Thunder-Child”) and XVIII (“London Under the Martians”) in Pearson’s Installment 7. A new chapter, “The Man on Putney Hill,” was added between Installments 8 and 9 of the serialized version. A digital facsimile of the 1898 Heinemann edition is available on HathiTrust.
1924 – The Atlantic Edition: The second major collected edition of The War of the Worlds (the “Atlantic Edition”) was published in London by T. Fisher Unwin, Ltd. in 1924 as part of a 28-volume set of works by Wells. It was published in Volume II of the set alongside The Invisible Man (1897) and his short story “A Dream of Armageddon” (1901). David Y. Hughes and Harry M. Geduld notably use this version for their critical edition of The War of the Worlds; most draw from the 1898 volume. The Atlantic Edition was created from corrected galleys of the 1898 Harpers edition (New York) plus the new Epilogue, which Harpers did not include (Hughes and Geduld 9, 43-44). A digital facsimile of the Atlantic Edition volume is available on Archive.org.
1927 – The Essex Edition: The third and final major collected edition of The War of the Worlds (the “Essex Edition”) was published in London by Ernest Benn, Ltd. in 1927 as part of a 24-volume set of works by Wells. It was published as Volume XIII of the set. The Essex Edition is essentially a “touch-up of the Atlantic Galleys” (Hughes and Geduld 43). Hughes and Geduld write that it is difficult to ascribe authorship to the slight revisions, especially since Wells did not oversee the creation of the Essex Edition nearly as closely as he did the Atlantic Edition. Unfortunately, no digital facsimile of this volume is readily available.
