Welcome to H.G. Wells' classic time-travelling adventure tale. Written in 1895, and Wells' first full-length work, it is widely credited with introducing the idea of time travel, but is also fascinating due to its Victorian England view point, and Wells' own political and social opinions of the time.
This introductory chapter follows a group of friends discussing the possibility of time travel and the concept of a fourth dimension with a gentleman we shall refer to simply as the Time Traveller, an apparent scientist, in Richmond, Surrey.
He argues that time is a dimension like any other and could be navigated if a machine could be created. The others debate his theory and the implications of visiting the past or the future. The chapter ends with the Time Traveller leaving the group to go to his laboratory to demonstrate his theory, while the others speculate as to what they might see.