Warwick Goble's Martian Tripods Cross the Thames, War of the Worlds 1897

Published in the serialized and early book editions of H.G. Wells' The War of the Worlds, this sepia-toned illustration by Warwick Goble captures Martian fighting machines wading across the River Thames toward Windsor Castle — one of England's most iconic landmarks — making the alien invasion viscerally immediate and patriotically chilling. Created at the height of Victorian imperial anxiety, Goble's delicate wash technique renders the tripods as eerily graceful yet unstoppable, their spindly latticed legs reflected in the still water below smoke-filled skies.