Through Space to Mars

Roy Rockwood | Whitman Publishing Company | c. late 1930s

A wonderfully visual piece of early American juvenile science fiction, Through Space to Mars; or, The Longest Journey on Record sends its young adventurers on an imaginative voyage to the Red Planet—decades before space travel became reality.

Originally published by Cupples & Leon in 1910, this is a later Whitman Publishing Company edition, issued in Racine, Wisconsin as part of The Great Marvel Series, No. 2346. The copyright page retains the original 1910 Cupples & Leon copyright, while the Whitman title page and series jacket identify this as a later reprint, likely dating from the late 1930s.

The highlight of this copy is its original illustrated dust jacket. Bold red, yellow, blue and black artwork depicts a futuristic spacecraft and imagined Martian inhabitants, with additional laboratory artwork running down the spine. The front illustration is signed J. Chambers. The rear jacket advertises contemporary Whitman mystery and adventure titles, including Deanna Durbin, Jane Withers, Red Ryder, Smilin' Jack, Terry and the Pirates, and The Outdoor Girls in the Air.

“Roy Rockwood” was a house pseudonym associated with the Stratemeyer Syndicate, creators of some of America's most enduring juvenile adventure series. Through Space to Mars belongs to Rockwood's Great Marvel series of fantastic voyages and early science-fiction adventures.