''Annals of the Twenty-Ninth Century: or, The Autobiography of the Tenth President of the World-Republic'' is a

science fiction Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may include information technology and robotics, biological manipulations, space ...

novel written by Andrew Blair, and published anonymously in

1874 Events January * January 1 – New York City annexes The Bronx. * January 2 – Ignacio María González becomes head of state of the Dominican Republic for the first time. * January 3 – Third Carlist War: Battle of Caspe &n ...

. Blair's work is one of a group of early science fiction novels that are now little known, but were influential in their own time—group that includes

Edward Maitland Edward Maitland may refer to * Edward Maitland (writer) (1824–1897), English writer and occultist * Edward Maitland (RAF officer) Air Commodore Edward Maitland Maitland, (born Edward Maitland Gee; 21 February 1880 – 24 August 1921) was an e ...

's ''By and By'' (1873),

Percy Greg Percy Greg (7 January 1836 Bury – 24 December 1889, Chelsea), son of William Rathbone Greg, was an English writer. His '' Across the Zodiac'' (1880) is an early science fiction novel, said to be the progenitor of the sword-and-planet genre ...

's ''

Across the Zodiac ''Across the Zodiac: The Story of a Wrecked Record'' (1880) is a science fiction novel by Percy Greg, who has been credited as an originator of the sword and planet subgenre of science fiction. It is the first science fiction novel set primarily ...

'' (1880), and

John Jacob Astor IV John Jacob Astor IV (July 13, 1864 – April 15, 1912) was an American business magnate, real estate developer, investor, writer, lieutenant colonel in the Spanish–American War, and a prominent member of the Astor family. He was among the most ...

's ''

A Journey in Other Worlds A, or a, is the first letter and the first vowel letter of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, and others worldwide. Its name in English is '' a'' (pronounced ), plural ''aes''. It is similar in shape to the Ancient ...

'' (1894). Blair tells an extravagant tale of a future age in which the peoples of the Earth have been united in a Christian "Mundo-Lunar Republic", and other planets in the

Solar System The Solar SystemCapitalization of the name varies. The International Astronomical Union, the authoritative body regarding astronomical nomenclature, specifies capitalizing the names of all individual astronomical objects but uses mixed "Sola ...

have been reached and their native inhabitants encountered. One modern critic has called Blair's book "a hodge-podge of interplanetary travel and super-scientific inventions" but also "a speculation of Stapledonian magnitude." In the view of another, Blair portrays "the union of science and religion...under the sign of a positivist

Deism Deism ( or ; derived from the Latin term '' deus'', meaning "god") is the philosophical position and rationalistic theology that generally rejects revelation as a source of divine knowledge and asserts that empirical reason and observation ...

mixed up with various utopian socialisms, and progressing from one technological wonder to another."

A sample quote

The modern U.S. Navy trains dolphins; Blair foresees much more:

...a levy of 40,000 naturalists were engaged for years in forming a hundred different zoological armies. Each of these was, by an admirable system of drill, brought to such a high state of discipline that a brigade, consisting of a thousand elephants, a thousand rhinoceroses, 180,000 monkeys and 15,000 other beasts of draught and burden could be officered with perfect ease by as few as one thousand naturalists. Birds of burden and fish of burden were in like manner drafted into the ranks of the zoological army, and, being subjected to similar training, were brought to a similar degree of efficiency.''Annals of the Twenty-Ninth Century'', Vol. 1, pp. 61–2.

References

{{reflist 1874 science fiction novels 1874 British novels British science fiction novels Works published anonymously Novels set in the 29th century Religion in science fiction Utopian novels Victorian novels