Out of time and out of place

The Other Side of the Clock: Stories Out of Time, Out of Place ~ collected by Philip Van Doren Stern, 1969, science fiction stories, 192 pages

An architect who designs houses in four dimensions . . . a buccaneer who has ruled an island for 200 years . . . a contemporary man and woman who meet — in Victorian England . . . an inventor who creates fabulous gadgets but who seems to have no mechanical aptitude.  These are some of the characters from the past, present, and future whose stories are told in this anthology.

Writers with far-ranging imaginations were exploring the idea of the time machine even before Einstein established the relativity of space and time.  Is it possible that future generations could vacation on the virgin sands of Cape Cod in the fifth century?  Will licensed historians take authorized trips to observe at firsthand the periods they are studying?  Are there people among us right now — perhaps next door, as in one of the stories — who are here from the future?  Is there some way we readers can manipulate time so as to achieve that immortality for which we have longed for centuries?  These and other questions are for the reader to ponder as we let our imagination rove through these pages.

There are a dozen stories in this book:

1. "Chronoclasm" ~ by John Wyndham
2. "The Story of the Late Mr Elvesham" ~ by H. G. Wells
3. "No Ships Pass" ~ by Lady Eleanor Smith
4. "Look after the Strange Girl" ~ by J. B. Priestley
5. "— And He Built a Crooked House" ~ by Robert A. Heinlein
6. "Such Interesting Neighbors" ~ by Jack Finney
7. "August Heat" ~ by William Fryer Harvey
8. "The Phantom Setter" ~ by Robert Murphy
9. ". . . And It Comes Out Here" ~ by Lester del Rey
10. "The Old Man" ~ by Holloway Horn
11. "Dial 'O' for Operator" ~ by Robert Presslie
12. "The Greatest Gift" ~ by Philip Van Doren Stern