Bell, Geo W
Entry updated 12 September 2022. Tagged: Author.
(1838-1907) US soldier (though his claim to the rank of Colonel has not been confirmed), real estate speculator, diplomat (Consul for the United States in Sydney, New South Wales, 1894-1900) and author; his sf novel, Mr Oseba's Last Discovery (1904 New Zealand) may have been written as a real estate promotion. The protagonist meets a traveling inhabitant of the Hollow Earth, who has arrived on the surface via the Arctic Symmes Hole (see John Cleves Symmes); he describes the Eugenic Utopia he has left below, and explains his people's need to colonize a clement part of Earth. New Zealand is then described, a process which occupies most of the book. It turns out to be an ideal place to settle. [JC]
"Colonel" George William Bell
born Richmond, Virginia: 22 October 1838 [1832 has also been given]
died Sydney, New South Wales: 7 July 1907
works
- Mr Oseba's Last Discovery (Wellington, New Zealand: The New Zealand Times Company, 1904) [hb/]
links
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