The Ship That Sailed to Mars (Calla Editions)

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Science Hero: The Old Man. Though he's described as being at odds with the stuffy scientists and astronomers of Earth, the Old Man nevertheless proves capable of fantastic feats of engineering and science: Timlin originally created the story to entertain his young son. He then sent the book to a London-based book publishing company, who were so impressed with the story and the illustrations, that they decided to print the book just as it appeared. Flaming Meteor: The Ship encounters a meteor in its travels that emits a "shuddering glow" and throws off heat. The fairies reason that it is "a giant spark from the Anvil of some Industrious God who was forging, maybe, an iron circlet for the ankle of his Beloved."

Martians: Mars is populated by a fantasy kingdom of Fairies "who fled the Moon when that unhappy planet cooled from sunny opulence to clearest shimmering ice.” Conveniently Close Planet: Not only can the Old Man and his crew of fairies fly to Mars in a sailing ship, there are multiple planets situated on the route between Earth and Mars where they take stopovers to stretch their legs. Dragon Rider: The Old Man is outfitted with a dragon mount when he sets off to rescue the Prince, but it can only take him as far as the overgrown forest.

I received this as a present for Christmas from my parents in 2011, I adore this book. I had never heard of this book prior to receiving it and I thought the story behind the author and the limited printing of the original was awesome: a rarely seen but amazing book.

A book called ‘The Ship that Sailed to Mars’ by William Mitcheson Timlin, which contains highly colourful illustrations shown alongside the text of the story. Interplanetary Voyage: The middle third of the book consists of the voyage from Earth to Mars, and gives descriptions of all the marvelous "stars" (i.e. planets) and hazards the travelers brave as they sail for Mars. Pirate Booty: Pirate Planet is home to all sorts of piratical myths and mores, including tropical islands hiding buried treasures. copies of this extraordinary book were published. Only 738 copies were sold (350 to the United States). In 1928 1208 copies were remaindered. Timlin paid 425 pounds towards the publication and received 4/6d. per copy plus a royalty of 10% of the net amount received. A 10% royalty only was paid on the copies sold in the United States. 500 pounds was paid for the film rights which was shared equally between the author and publisher. The film was to be called "Get off the Earth" but was never made.He designs a ship capable of interplanetary travel and is able to construct it with the aid of some like-minded fairy craftsmen. The book begins with an old man with a bold dream – to sail to Mars “by way of the moon and the most friendly planets”, despite being told by scientists and wise men that no such thing is possible. He enlists the help of the mischievous Fairies who help him to construct his ship and travel with him as his adventure begins. Along the journey they encounter various obstacles, both on earth and en route to Mars. The story, in terms of plot, is rather bare bones and simple, but the language is truly unusual. It's hard to classify this book because it has a fairy-tale-like and folkloric quality, but the style in which it is written is far beyond the grasp of any child. So I suppose the best way to put it is that this is a bedtime story for adults. That's not to say that a child could not appreciate it. There's plenty for a child to appreciate here: the art work, the fancifulness, and the simplicity of plot-line would definitely appeal to any child. Science Fantasy: Arguably the best descriptor for this work, where fairycraft enables a man to fly to Mars.

Space Is an Ocean: Overlaps with Space Sailing— the voyage to Mars is conducted on a sailing ship that can fly as well as it floats and planets are treated much like islands in a sea. William Timlin, talented and aspiring artist and architect living in South Africa, began in 1921 to create for his young son's enjoyment each of the 48 hand-lettered calligraphic text plates and 48 color illustrations, published in 1923. The story is presented as "told and pictured" by the author, implying it may not be a made-up tale, and it does not conform to science-fiction or even fantasy story-telling tropes, weaving a path of its own. The Ship that Sailed to Mars: A Fantasy (London: George G Harrap and Company, 1923) [graph: illus/hb/William M Timlin]

The fantasy story is that of an Old Man who dreams of sailing to Mars by way of the moon and other planets. He designs and builds a ship with the help of elves and fairies, and journeys to “the tiny Orb that was the Wonder World of Mars”. Along the way he encounters lots of different creatures and goes on lots of adventures. Artistic License – Space: The Ship That Sailed to Mars is quintessentially Science Fantasy (heavy on the fantasy side), but none of the astronomy in the tale has any basis in reality: An old man builds a ship to sail to Mars, with the help of fairies (naturally), has adventures along the way, helps a princess save her beloved from Sorrow and all ends well. It's a slim plot, but no matter. It's a dream in which to tumble. The sole published work of William Timlin, The Ship That Sailed to Mars is an early (1923) work of Science Fantasy distinguished by the author's four dozen fanciful watercolor illustrations and hand-drawn calligraphic text accompaniment. Timlin sent the book to publishers George Harrap, who were delighted with the illustrations and the calligraphic text, deciding to print it without typesetting. The book has since become a fantasy classic. [3] Alan Horne in The Dictionary of 20th Century British Book Illustrators describes the book as a masterpiece and "the most original and beautiful children's book of the 1920s".