"What," asked guest curator Andy Sawyer at the beginning of this niche exhibition, "is science fiction?"
Fundamental question considering that is the cornerstone of Out Of This World.
But even Mr Sawyer is perplexed. In an exhibition that ranges from the imaginary lands of Verdopolis and Angria created by the Brontes to the cyberlands of William Gibson, it is a question that will vex the visitor - and send the aficionado into spirals of apoplexy at disputed omissions and inclusions.
At the risk of raiding the British Library of all its tomes, Mr Sawyer opted for a rule of thumb: You'll know it when you see it.
Which somewhat sets a challenge seeing as the subtitle of the exhibition is "Science Fiction - but not as you know it."
A second question, which runs to the content rather than the basis of the exhibition, is "what if..." the starting point of some of the most colourful and insightful journeys into the imagination ever committed to paper.
What if we could travel through time or we existed in a multiverse or aliens existed among us or technology got the better of us?
Delights in this exhibition include some draft manuscripts, complete with marginalia, from the likes of JG Ballard, a steampunk K9 as well as rare books such as a 1647 edition of Lucian's second century True History which involves a trip to the moon.
Mr Sawyer, director of science fiction studies MA at the University of Liverpool, said: "What this exhibition shows is that science fiction is a way of asking questions about the world, its future and our place in it that has roots in a number literary tradition and cultures."
One consistency runs through all the early works: no-one got the Year 2000 right. There were no foil suits or flying cars, dammit.
– From May 2011
