Very much a product of its time, Canada's first science fiction novel recounts the strange adventures of a sailor cast ashore among a race of cannibals who regard death as the greatest blessing they can bestow. Part swashbuckling adventure, part love story and part examination of accepted values turned inside out, this novel is important both as a landmark in the development of Canadian science fiction and as a captivating piece of literature.A STRANGE MANUSCRIPT FOUND IN A COPPER CYLINDER was originally published in London, England, by Chatto & Windus in 1888. In America, the story was serialized in Harper's and subseqently published by Harper Brothers late the same year. it was republished in Canada by McClelland and Steward in 1969.

JAMES DE MILLE was born in Saint John, NB, in 1833, and educated at Acadia College, Wolfville, NS, and Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island. He taught classics at Acadia College, and rhetoric and history at Dalhousie College in Halifax. He had a successful career as a prolific and popular novelist. He died in 1880, and his best known novel, "A Stange Manuscript Found in a Copper Cylinder", was published posthumously in 1888.

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"De Mille writes in succinct and easy sentences, free of adjectives and drawn-out syntactic pretenses. His pen even allows cliches to sound moving . . ."- Aidan Johnson, The Hamilton Spectator