EVANS, I(drisyn) O(liver)

(1894-1977)

   South-African-born UK civil servant and, especially after his retirement in 1956, editor and writer. His first book of sf relevance was the nonfiction The World of Tomorrow (1933), about possible future inventions, partly illustrated with reproductions of artwork from sf magazines, and thus - almost accidentally - the first anthology of sf ILLUSTRATION. He later specialized in the works of Jules VERNE, many of which he translated and edited for the Fitzroy edition of Verne's work in translation, beginning in 1958; some of these were reprinted by ACE BOOKS. Unfortunately, in editing Verne IOE occasionally abridged him cruelly, rendering him more of a simple boys'-action writer than was in fact the case. IOE wrote Jules Verne and his Work (1965) and edited Science Fiction through the Ages 1 (anth 1966) and Science Fiction through the Ages 2 (anth 1966), the first volume of which is restricted to pre-20th-century sf. He also edited Jules Verne - Master of Science Fiction (coll 1956), which assembles extracts from Verne's novels.

   PN