This is the annotated edition including the rare biographical essay by Edwin E. Slosson called “H. G. Wells — A Major Prophet Of His Time”.
Tono-Bungay is not, to be sure, with its four hundred and fifty pages, a short story; but it contains chapters that might serve as short stories. It is plainly a romance, with much else besides. Mr. Wells himself calls it a novel; there are critics who will tell you it is a sociological essay. It is in truth a very omnibus of fiction. Victorian romance, near the entrance; tragedy—take the elevator, top floor; comedy, in the basement; science and sociology, on the bargain counter; a tempting display of realism in the drug department. Tono-Bungay is—need it be explained ?—a patent medicine. Its inventor, the great Edward Ponderevo, and his nephew and aide, the narrator of the veracious chronicle, struggle with varying fortunes for the position of hero. To match them there are two heroines—perhaps more. But heroines and their affairs are, in the language of commerce, mere bye-products. To modern industry and finance the big volume is dedicated. In the symphonic development of this great theme lies whatsoever appearance of unity the book can boast.
