Certain Personal Matters.

Published in 1898, the year in which H.G. Wells, seriously ill with a recurrence of his kidney infection, stayed with Dr. Henry Hick during his convalescence. Hick, to whom this copy is inscribed, helped him recover, subsequently becoming his personal physician during his years spent in Kent, the closeness of the relationship reflected in Wells acting as godfather to Hick's daughter Marjory (for whom he wrote his only children's book The Adventures of Tommy).

In 'How I Died', the final essay in the collection, Wells reflects on his shifting attitude towards death since his first serious illness in 1887. He noted that 'The medical profession, which had pronounced my death sentence, reiterated it steadily - has, indeed, done so now this ten years', the most recent doctor to offer this warning being Henry Hick, the book's recipient.