robots

This collection comprises more than 120 seminal works of robot fiction, most preserved in their original pulp magazine publications.

It begins with R.U.R. (Rossum's Universal Robots) (1920) by Karel Čapek, the book that introduced the word “robot” and imagined a future in which artificial beings destroy humanity. Also included are its 1922 review, 1923 English translation, and 1994 screenplay adaptation. 

At its core are rare first printings by Isaac Asimov—widely known as the “father of robotics”—including all the original pulp appearances of the stories later collected in his book I, Robot. The collection also features early robot fiction by Neil R. Jones, Eando Binder, and Lester del Rey, whose robot stories helped shape Asimov’s more optimistic vision of intelligent machines. Many of the pulp magazines are housed in custom archival boxed sets, alongside first-edition volumes and the eight books of Asimov’s Foundation series, where robots influence humanity’s fate.

A notable highlight is del Rey’s Helen O’Loy (1938), the earliest story to explore emotional attachment between humans and robots—anticipating by decades the relational issues attributed to modern AI.  

No robot archive would be complete without The Day the Earth Stood Still. The collection includes the original 1940 pulp publication of “Farewell to the Master” by Harry Bates, the basis for the 1951 and 2008 films, along with related editions and the 1951 film adaptation.

Complementing these fictional works, scientific writings on automata appear in the Computing Collection. A full list of collection documents is available upon request.

This collection is available for sale as part of the larger series: Machines, Minds, and the Cosmos.

A full list of collection documents is available upon request.