A Strange Manuscript Found in a Copper Cylinder

By James De Mille

A Strange Manuscript Found in a Copper Cylinder is James De Mille’s most famous work, set in an imaginary, semi-tropical land in Antarctica that is inhabited by prehistoric monsters and a cult called the Kosekin. Inspired by Edgar Allan Poe’s The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket and Ms. Found in a Bottle, the main story follows the adventures of Adam More, a British sailor shipwrecked on a homeward voyage from Tasmania. In the strange world More discovers, he finds a well-developed human society whose values are reversed from the 19th century Western world he hails from: death and darkness are preferred to life and light, and poverty is revered while wealth is scorned.

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• Language: English
• Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
• Release date: May 5, 2020
• ISBN: 9780735254404

James De Mille

James De Mille (1833-1880) was a Canadian novelist and professor. Born in Saint John, New Brunswick, De Mille was the son of a merchant. As a young man, he traveled to Europe with his brother before returning to North America to pursue his Master of Arts degree at Brown University. Upon graduating in 1854, he married Anne Pryor and found employment at Acadia University as a Classics professor. In 1865, he was appointed professor of English and rhetoric at Dalhousie University in Nova Scotia. Over the next fifteen years, he wrote over a dozen novels and short story collections, many of which were intended for a young adult audience. His most popular work, A Strange Manuscript Found in a Copper Cylinder (1888), was published posthumously as a serial in Harper’s Weekly, in which many of De Mille’s earlier works had appeared during his lifetime. Although his career was cut short by his death at the age of 46, De Mille is considered a pioneering practitioner of the Lost World genre of science fiction.

Reviews for A Strange Manuscript Found in a Copper Cylinder

[calexis_47 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This is a novel I had to read this year for my Canadian Literature course. I seem to be very different from my classmates though. I find the reading utterly boring and weird, whereas they apparently all loved it. And when I enjoy a reading, they seem to dislike it. I'm thinking the problem lies in me, since I am the minority. Nevertheless, about this Canadian novel, I can't say that I was too fascinated by it. Some parts were actually interesting, but I found parts of it really repetitive and boring. Though I did enjoy the ending. And no, I didn't enjoy the ending cause it meant the book was over (okay, it was partly that) but because I liked the way the story turned around. Of course if he only thought of something like it before or had better escapes, maybe this book wouldn't have dragged out the way it did. I did however find that the Kosekins were fascinating in that they were the opposite of human nature as we know it to be.. and still there presented problems. It raises the question of utopia. Anyways, had to finish it for class. Glad it's done. Now I just gotta really analyze it and apply it to class-- great.

[jruel_3 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I read this and "The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket" by E.A. Poe, in the same year, and I confuse them in my mind; both involve sea travelers who reach a new and mysterious world. But where Poe's is a classical suspense/thriller/horror tale, "A Strange Manuscript" is more a social study, of idle gentlemen looking for adventure at first, and of a utopian/dystopian (depending on your political leanings...) society for most of the book. I always enjoy "alternate universe" or "other worlds" stories, and this one was not an exception. However, it is liable to feel dated, because the personalities and concerns of the characters are rather victorian. A "retro" read if you like dystopia/utopia.

[gypsysmom_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The title really tells us a lot about the book. Four English gentlemen found a copper cylinder floating in the sea. When they opened it up they found a document purporting to be from an English sailor by the name of Adam More. More tells of becoming separated from his ship and his little boat being carried along a current in the sea near the Antarctic Circle. Eventually he ends up in a strange land which is the antithesis in all things to the society he is used to.The four gentlemen read the document aloud and discuss it when they take breaks. This gives the reader a chance to think about the story and about the philosophy of the society in which More found himself. At times the writing is heavy-handed but probably did not seem so in 1888 when this book was first published (8 years after De Mille's death).I found myself thinking of the novels of Jules Verne while reading the book and thinking that De Mille was probably influenced by those stories. Then, when I read the introduction after finishing the book (I try never to read introductions before reading a book because they invariably spoil the story) I found that Verne's novels were not translated into English until the 1880's after De Mille's death. The other book I was reminded of was Gulliver's Travels. Here I was probably closer to the mark according to the author of the introduction:The antecedents to which De Mille was possibly indebted...were such satirical masterworks as Swift's Gulliver's Travels and Samuel Butler's Erewhon...This book is meant to make you think and it does that. It is also entertaining.

[jameshold-1 · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

First part is very good as the hero gets swept away through an underground river. Only then he comes across the usual lost civilization and the boredom dial gets turned up to 11.

[starbox_2 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

A group of wealthy Victorian gentlemen, out sailing recreationally, find the eponymous strange manuscript and read it in instalments.This is the narrative of one Adam More, cast ashore near the south Pole and chancing upon a strange subterranean world, where the inhabitants yearn for all we deem bad- death and privation being the greatest glories.With human sacrifice and dinosaurs part of the tale (I wondered if the author of that kids book Dinotopia had been influenced by this?)...and love...it keeps you reading. The gentlemen sailors interject every so often....theyre unable to decide if it's a true account or some kind of allegory...