The Huge Hunter
Or, The Steam Man of the Prairies
by Edward Sylvester Ellis 1840–1916
The book, and the century it came out of.
A hunchbacked boy of fifteen builds a man of iron that walks, driven by a steam boiler in its chest, and hitches it to a wagon for the prairies. Ellis was an Ohio schoolteacher who sold his first dime novel at twenty and never stopped, writing hundreds under a dozen names; this 1868 story is the first science fiction the American mass market produced, and every robot since is downstream of it. Illustrated with 60 full-page plates — paintings by Cole and Allston among them.
‘HOWLY vargin! what is that?’ exclaimed Mickey McSquizzle, with something like horrified amazement.
The Huge Hunter, by Edward Sylvester Ellis, complete and unabridged. Spelling and punctuation follow present-day American usage; the sentences, the paragraphs and the voice are the author’s, word for word.
It was written in another era and may carry attitudes a reader today will find dated. They are kept for the sake of the work and do not reflect the views of this house.
- Series
- Science Fiction
- Format
- Ebook
- Extent
- about 88 pages
- Reading time
- about 2 hours
- Illustrations
- Full-page plates, credited
- Text
- Complete, unabridged
- Language
- en
- This edition
- 2026
- ISBN
- 9785501630970
60 paintings are bound into this edition
Six of them are shown here, taken from the volume itself. Each is reproduced full page and named with its painter and year.
A page from this edition
Not a mock-up: this page is taken from the finished volume. The ornament above the chapter belongs to its shelf and to no other, the opening letter is set as a drop capital, and the plate below carries the name of the painter and the year.
Both photographed from the finished volume.
The Huge Hunter, issued in this edition by Aeneas Press in 2026 on the Science Fiction shelf. Newly set, with the ornament of its series above each chapter and a drop capital on the opening page. Illustrated with full-page plates, each named with its painter.
Published as an ebook and not issued in print by this house; it carries one ISBN, 9785501630970, and is supplied worldwide. This edition — its setting, its ornament, its cover art, and the selection and attribution of its plates — © 2026 Aeneas Press.
Questions readers ask
- Is this the whole of The Huge Hunter?
- Yes — complete and unabridged. Nothing is cut, condensed or paraphrased. This is the book, not a summary of it.
- What exactly did you change?
- The spelling and the punctuation follow present-day American usage. Edward Sylvester Ellis's sentences are untouched — same words, same order, same rhythm.
- Are the pictures really in the book?
- Yes. The edition carries full-page plates bound into the text, each one named with its painter and the year it was made. Six of them are shown on this page.
- How long is it?
- About 88 pages, which is roughly about 2 hours of reading.
- What do I actually get?
- An illustrated ebook with its own ISBN, sold worldwide. One file, yours to keep, readable on any device.
