{"product_id":"capek-karel-r-u-r-rossum-s-universal-robots-a-play-in-three-acts-and-an-epilogue-1800218","title":"CAPEK, Karel R.U.R [Rossum’s Universal Robots] A Play in Three Acts and an Epilogue","description":"\u003ch3 style=\"font-variant: small-caps\"\u003eTHE WORD ‘ROBOT’ USED FOR THE FIRST TIME\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e8vo., original glued black wraps lettered in red to upper cover; pp. [v], 6-102, [ii, ads.]; an excellent and fresh example, covers a little sunned at edges and along spine, with one small chip to the upper right hand corner of front cover. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eFirst UK edition\u003c\/b\u003e, translated by P. Selver and adapted for the English stage by Nigel Playfair. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eR.U.R is a sci-fi play which is best known today for first introducing the world to the word ‘robot’ to the English language. First written in 1920 under the title Rossumovi Univerzální Roboti, it premiered on the 2nd January 1921 in Hradec Králové, Czechia.  The play begins in a factory which produces artificial people - ‘Robots’ - similar in conception to modern androids, who look and act like humans, and are sometimes even mistaken for them. Initially happy to be subservient to people, the robots end up staging a revolt, killing all but one of their masters. Attempting to reproduce proves disastrous - their attempts at replication leave them with nothing but bloody chunks of meat - until two of them fall in love. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn England the play was first produced in London by the Reandean Company. It was performed at St. Martin’s theatre in April 1923, produced by Basil Dean and with scenery designed by George W. Harris. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eČapek ranks highly alongside such authors as Huxley and Orwell in the genre of Speculative Fiction, in which he wrote extensively about mass production, robots, atomic bombs and post-human beings, as well as dictatorships and corruption. In Czech, the word \u003ci\u003erobota\u003c\/i\u003e means forced labour of the kind that serfs had to perform on their masters' lands, and is derived from rab, meaning ‘slave’. The book undoubtedly went on to inspire Asimov’s \u003ci\u003erobot\u003c\/i\u003e series, along with many other popular works on the subject throughout the 20th century.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSKU: \u003c\/strong\u003e1800218\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Fold the Corner","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57198209139012,"sku":"1800218","price":400.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0943\/8711\/0212\/files\/1800218.jpg?v=1788626413","url":"https:\/\/foldthecornerbooks.co.uk\/products\/capek-karel-r-u-r-rossum-s-universal-robots-a-play-in-three-acts-and-an-epilogue-1800218","provider":"Fold the Corner Books ","version":"1.0","type":"link"}