Every genre has a birth certificate.
A catalogue of genre fiction by its printed record: dated first printings, edition-by-edition comparisons, family-tree charts and scene maps for science fiction, detective stories, dystopias and fairy tales.
Dated tables and charts that the other entries lean on.
Utopias & Dystopias · Lineage essay
20 dystopian novels dated by first appearance in print, 1879–1985: magazine serials, changed titles, hidden authors and later edits. Sourced, with a CSV.
Illustration: Genre Fiction Lineage. Generated scene illustration — not a book illustration, photograph or historical record. No copyright is claimed in the generated imagery; if you reuse it, please credit "Genre Fiction Lineage".
Science Fiction · Lineage essay
Enrique Gaspar's El anacronópete put a time machine in print in Barcelona in 1887, eight years before Wells. Ten time-travel stories to 1895, dated, with a CSV.
Illustration: Genre Fiction Lineage. Generated scene illustration — not a book illustration, photograph or historical record. No copyright is claimed in the generated imagery; if you reuse it, please credit "Genre Fiction Lineage".
Utopias & Dystopias · Lineage essay
Robert Owen bought New Harmony ready-built. A dated table of 16 American communities, founded 1825–1846 and later dissolved, each date from an 1870s survey.
"New Harmony on the Wabash" by Karl Bodmer, 1839 — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Karl_Bodmer,_%22New_Harmony_on_the_Wabash%22_2009_26_2v1.jpg — CC0 1.0 (https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/)
Scene Maps · Scene map
By this page's count, 19 of Dracula's 27 chapters are set mainly in England. Every place tied to a chapter and a sentence, with Castle Dracula left unplaced.
"Houses by a beck (Whitby II)" by Frank Meadow Sutcliffe, undated — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sutcliffe,_Frank_Meadow_(5226243318).jpg — Public domain (US: Sutcliffe (1853-1941) worked as a commercial photographer; the print is presumed published in his working life, before 1931 (presumption, not checked); Germany: 70 years after his death in 1941, expired 2011 (UrhG §64); France: 70 years after death, CPI L123-1 general rule, not checked against Légifrance; he was English, so the died-for-France extension does not apply (not checked))
Fairy Tale Editions · Lineage essay
Perrault's 1697 Little Red Riding Hood ends with the wolf eating her; the huntsman's rescue is in the Grimms' 1812 text. Three texts compared stage by stage.
"Little Red Riding Hood meets the wolf" by Gustave Doré, 1867 — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Little_Red_Riding_Hood_(136547615).jpg — Public domain (US: published in Paris in 1867; Germany and France: Doré died 1883 (GND), and the engraver signing Pannemaker was at work by 1867 (presumed out of copyright from his working years; first name and dates not checked), so 70 years after death have run out); modified: cropped from the full book page, desaturated and contrast adjusted on Wikimedia Commons before download
Science Fiction · Edition comparison
In the 1818 Frankenstein, Elizabeth is Victor's first cousin; in the 1831 text she is a Milanese nobleman's daughter. Thirteen passages compared side by side.
"Frankenstein observing the first stirrings of his creature" by Wellcome Collection, 1831 — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Frankenstein_observing_the_first_stirrings_of_his_creature._Wellcome_L0027125.jpg — CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)
The five sections of the catalogue, with how many entries each holds today.
This week's pick, week beginning 2 November 2026. A different entry each week, taken from the shelves in turn.
Fairy Tale Editions · Edition comparison
Fairy Tales by Perrault: Matched Against Grimm, 1812 to 1857
Perrault's 1697 book has eight prose tales; the Grimms' notes pair seven with tales in their 1812 edition, and two of those are absent from 1819 to 1857.
Searches the titles, one-line summaries and section names of all 18 entries. It does not search the full text of entries.
How this catalogue works: About the site · Errors fixed so far: Corrections log
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