Where did science fiction start – with Star Trek, or Hugo Gernsback's stable of pulp magazines? Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, perhaps?

[partner id="wireduk"]Constructing histories of the genre is a favorite game of science fiction's fans, creators and critics, and now the British Library has taken a turn with its Out of This World exhibition, which runs through Sept. 25.

Drawing on the private collections of notable critics as well as the British Library's own archives, Out of This World boldly plots the science fictional line right back to AD 170 or thereabouts, when Lucian of Samosata penned his satirical adventure story True History in which his protagonists find themselves visiting the moon courtesy of a giant waterspout.

Unsurprisingly, the British Library doesn't have a first edition of Lucian's book, but a 1647 edition rests proudly in the same display case as novels by contemporary authors that deal with the theme of alien worlds. Other themes in the exhibition include future worlds, parallel worlds, virtual worlds (which were being written some time before the contentious cyberpunk label bubbled up, incidentally), apocalypses and utopias.

It's not just novels, either. The British Library has included poetry, graphic novels, plays, films and television in the displays, from much-loved contemporary classics like Neil Gaiman's Sandman series to an original typescript of R.U.R, the play upon which Fritz Lang's groundbreaking movie Metropolis was based, and in which playwright Karel Čapek coined the word robot.

There's even a Protect and Survive leaflet from the Cold War years of nuclear paranoia ... and, believe it or not, an advert for Bovril.

Out of This World also clearly demonstrates that the genre isn't the geeky clubhouse of white Western men that it is all too often (and, sadly, all too easily) accused of being; women and people of color feature strongly as creators and characters alike, with works that have expanded not just the remit of science fiction, but the ways in which we think about ourselves in relation to others.

Out of This World's four-month run is peppered with special events, including appearances from contemporary science fiction authors such as China Miéville and Audrey Niffenegger, and P-Funk legend George Clinton will be among the musicians talking about the genre's influence on their work. Out of This World aims to challenge the genre's reputation as a literary ghetto and show its vital role in shaping the world we all live in today ... not to mention the one we'll live in tomorrow.

Out of This World is open through Sept. 25 in the PACCAR Gallery at the British Library in London. Can't make it to the free exhibition? See Wired UK's gallery of sci-fi art from the display.

A 1958 issue of Space Travel envisions spaceships, satellites and a halo space station.

Images courtesy British Library

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