# Concerning time travel in early sci-fi fiction... **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 8, 2003, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/concerning-time-travel-in-early-sci-fi-fiction/193761 "2003-08-08T04:26:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Askia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/96bed5/32.png) [@Askia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askia)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2003, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/concerning-time-travel-in-early-sci-fi-fiction/193761/1 "2003-08-08T04:26:23Z")
…when H. G. Wells serialized The Chronic Argonauts in 1888, were there any prior or contemporanous fictions concerning time travel by other European or American authors? What were, say, the earliest short stories or novels regarding time travel besides Wells’ The Time Machine? ---
**Author:** ![biqu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7feea3/32.png) [@biqu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/biqu)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2003, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/concerning-time-travel-in-early-sci-fi-fiction/193761/2 "2003-08-08T05:01:05Z")
Popular Science’s article [269 Years of Time Travel](http://www.popsci.com/popsci/science/article/0,12543,203811,00.html) mentions a 1733 novel by Samuel Madden, “part of time-travel fiction trend originating in utopian literature.” The article fails to mention any other titles associated with that “time-travel fiction trend,” but if they exist, I’m sure some doper will be along to mention them. ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2003, 5:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/concerning-time-travel-in-early-sci-fi-fiction/193761/3 "2003-08-08T05:13:33Z")
> [@](#): > > \*\* Concerning time travel in early sci-fi fiction…\*\* I like to buy my sci-fi fiction with money I get from my ATM machine, using my PIN number. 😃 Sorry. Carry on. ---
**Author:** ![biqu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7feea3/32.png) [@biqu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/biqu)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2003, 5:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/concerning-time-travel-in-early-sci-fi-fiction/193761/4 "2003-08-08T05:41:01Z")
> [@](#): > > _Originally posted by Smeghead_ > I like to buy my sci-fi fiction with money I get from my ATM machine, using my PIN number. I read the SDMB on my GNU (Unix-like) system (running on 120V, 60Hz AC current), caching images in GIF format that are downloaded over the TCP/IP protocol, while programs in a GUI interface nearly max out my 256MB of RAM memory. How about we start another thread for this nonsense? ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Bravo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_bravo/32/493_2.png) [@Johnny\_Bravo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Bravo)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2003, 7:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/concerning-time-travel-in-early-sci-fi-fiction/193761/5 "2003-08-08T07:36:56Z")
Rip van Winkle. ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_Wright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@Steve\_Wright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_Wright)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2003, 10:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/concerning-time-travel-in-early-sci-fi-fiction/193761/6 "2003-08-08T10:56:37Z")
The Seven Sleepers of Ephesus. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2003, 11:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/concerning-time-travel-in-early-sci-fi-fiction/193761/7 "2003-08-08T11:28:06Z")
Edward Page Mitchell’s “The Clock that ran Backwards” appeared in the New York Sun Sept. 18, 1881, well before Wells. Mitchell also seems to have invented the Teleportation story (see me Teemings article: [http://www.teemings.com/issue14/calmeacham.html](http://www.teemings.com/issue14/calmeacham.html) See this page for more early examples: [http://www.magicdragon.com/UltimateSF/thisthat.html#time](http://www.magicdragon.com/UltimateSF/thisthat.html#time) ---
**Author:** ![Askia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/96bed5/32.png) [@Askia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askia)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2003, 12:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/concerning-time-travel-in-early-sci-fi-fiction/193761/8 "2003-08-08T12:28:40Z")
**Smeghead.** MYOB business, ya goof. **CalMeacham.** I forgot about ‘A Christmas Carol’ (1843). Would I be right in assuming that the means for time travel in “Anno 7603” and “Missing One’s Coach”, was a mystical force or supernatural intervention rather than an actual conveyance? What exactly happens in Edward Page Mitchell’s “The Clock That Went Backwards?” ---
**Author:** ![Askia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/96bed5/32.png) [@Askia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askia)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2003, 7:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/concerning-time-travel-in-early-sci-fi-fiction/193761/9 "2003-08-10T07:12:48Z")
bump-ba-bah-bump ---
**Author:** ![Shalmanese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shalmanese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shalmanese)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2003, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/concerning-time-travel-in-early-sci-fi-fiction/193761/10 "2003-08-10T16:38:35Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by amore ac studio \* > \*\*I read the SDMB on my GNU (Unix-like) system (running on 120V, 60Hz AC current), caching images in GIF format that are downloaded over the TCP/IP protocol, while programs in a GUI interface nearly max out my 256MB of RAM memory. > > How about we start another thread for this nonsense? \*\* I think he was pointing out the redundancy of Science Fiction Fiction using Automatic Teller Machine Macines and Personal Identification Number Numbers. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2003, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/concerning-time-travel-in-early-sci-fi-fiction/193761/11 "2003-08-10T16:52:19Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Askia \* > \*\* > Would I be right in assuming that the means for time travel in “Anno 7603” and “Missing One’s Coach”, was a mystical force or supernatural intervention rather than an actual conveyance? > > What exactly happens in Edward Page Mitchell’s “The Clock That Went Backwards?” \*\* The people in Anno 7603 go forward in time because of a fairy. The hero of “Missing One’s Coach” goes through some temporal shift, but the mechanism isn’t specified (and it’s not intentional on his part) In “The Clock that Went Backward”, these boys find a broken pocketwatch that, when wound backward, transports them to Rennaisance Holand. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2003, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/concerning-time-travel-in-early-sci-fi-fiction/193761/12 "2003-08-10T18:59:06Z")
Mark Twain’s _A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court_ was first serialized in 1889. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2003, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/concerning-time-travel-in-early-sci-fi-fiction/193761/13 "2003-08-10T19:25:46Z")
And Edward Bellamy’s “Looking Backward” was published in 1887. ---
**Author:** ![Fiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e274bd/32.png) [@Fiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiver)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2003, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/concerning-time-travel-in-early-sci-fi-fiction/193761/14 "2003-08-10T21:38:51Z")
**Shalmanese** : > [@](#): > > I think he was pointing out the redundancy of Science Fiction Fiction using Automatic Teller Machine Macines and Personal Identification Number Numbers. _whooosh!_ ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2003, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/concerning-time-travel-in-early-sci-fi-fiction/193761/15 "2003-08-11T18:10:56Z")
Two points: First, all those who think they are being clever by pointing out the supposed redundancy of ATM Machines and the like are not so much clever as completely wrong. Duplicating the end word is the proper way of referring to these initialisms. For example, OPEC Countries is correct; OPEC Nations is wrong. Sci-fi fiction would be technically correct, if extremely awkward. Second, the insanely completest [Time Machines: Time Travel in Physics, Metaphysics, and Science Fiction, by Paul J. Nahin](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0387985719/qid=1060625051/sr=8-1/ref=sr_8_1/104-5318327-7071156?v=glance&s=books&n=507846) lists a million variations on the subject of time travel. So when talking about time travel you can slice your argument in travel into the future or into the past, using machines or magic or no explanation at all, seeing into the past or future without traveling there, and on and on and on to the limits of human imagination (and endurance if you want to plow through every one of his examples). What came before Wells depends greatly on which definition of time travel you care to discuss, so there can be no definitive answer to this question.