Spine-tingling and entertaining,The Invisible Man is a science fiction classic. To its author, FI. G. Wells,the novel was as compelling as "a good gripping dream." But to generations of readers, the terrible and evil experiment of the demented scientist, Griffin,has conveyed a chilling nightmare of believable horror. An atmosphere of ever increasing suspense begins with the arrival of a mysterious stranger at an English village inn and builds relentlessly to the stark terror of a victim pursued by a maniacal invisible man. The result is a masterwork: a dazzling display of the brillant imagination,psychological insight, and literary craftsmanship that made H. G. Wells one of the most influential writers of his time.

The Invisible Man is a characteristic piece of H. G.Wells’s early writing. He wrote this long short story soon after he had made his spectacular start as a writer, and it belongs in the body of work that he produced between the end of 1893 and the early part of 1898. In those fiveyears he wrote and sold The Time Machine, The Wonderful Visit, The Island of Dr. Moreau, The Wheels of Chance,The War of the Worlds, The Invisible Man, and a large part of the first draft of Love and Mr. Lewisham. Inside the same period he also wrote a number of short stories that were published together in a volume entitled The Stolen Bacillus.

Introduction

1 The Strange Man’s Arrival

2 Mr. Teddy Henfrey’s First Impressions

3 The Thousand and One Bottles

4 Mr. Cuss Interviews the Stranger

5 The Burglary at the Vicarage

6 The Furniture That Went Mad

7 The Unveiling of the Stranger

8 In Transit

9 Mr. Thomas Marvel

10 Mr. Marvel’s Visit to Iping

11 In the Coach and Horses

12 The Invisible Man Loses His Temper

13 Mr. Marvel Discusses His Resignation

14 At Port Stowe

15 The Man Who Was Running

16 In the Jolly Cricketers

17 Doctor Kemp’s Visitor

18 The Invisible Man Sleeps

19 Certain First Principles

20 At the House in Great Portland Street

21 In Oxford Street

22 In the Emporium

23 In Drury Lane

24 The Plan That Failed

25 The Hunting of the Invisible Man

26 The Wicksteed Murder

27 The Siege of Kemp’s House

28 The Hunter Hunted

The Epilogue