Rare first edition in English of Čapek's classic science fiction novel, which extensively satirises contemporary European politics, including colonialism, fascism and Nazism, segregation in America, and the arms race. Seldom found in the dustjacket.

The novel was translated into several languages within a year of being published and was the basis for a number of stage adaptations between 1981 and 2010. During the Second World War, it was blacklisted in Germany by the Nazis in 1940 and in 1941 by Nazi-occupied Norway.

First UK edition, first impression; 8vo; light foxing to prelims and terminal leaves, minor offsetting to endpapers; publisher's teal cloth, titles to spine and upper cover in yellow, yellow topstain bright, spotting to edges, light shelf-wear, with the unclipped pictorial dustjacket, spine toned, light spotting to front panel and flaps, spine ends and corners chipped with loss, spine panel torn at folds; a very good copy in the scarce dustjacket.