First fictional use of multiverse

[Judge Dredd]

Reading early Michael Moorcock and in the early 60s he introduced the idea of a multiverse. I know the word and concept existed before he added it to the books, but I read it was the first written use of the term 'multiverse' in its modern popular sense. Does anyone else know of a multiverse before 1962? I know DC had multiple earths over the golden and silver age, but I do not think it was ever named during that period. Anyone know of an earlier use of the word multiverse in fiction?

[Güicho]

I'll let someone else describe and post images to the Wonder Woman issue which predates these.

Yet the one DC built it's burgeoning multiverse off of, was
Some history:

1961 -Established and explained by Barry Allen as "two similar Universes" to Jay Garrick in "Flash of Two Worlds" The Flash #123, where Barry Allen is transported to the Earth where the original Flash, Jay Garrick, exists, and calls him back into action.
Establishing the ongoing adventures of what is now known as Earth 2



1963 -This was reestablished in the first team crossover between the JLA a JSA, in "Crisis on Earth-One" (Justice League of America #21) and "Crisis on Earth-Two" (Justice League of America #22).
Which started the yearly JLA and the JSA tradition of crossover between Earth 1 and Earth 2.



1964 - Justice League of AmericaJ #29 - Earth-Three is introduced and the mirror universe, whose history is depicted as a mirror image to that of the Earth we know. And Universe of the Earth-Three analogue to the Justice League, the Crime Syndicate of America



Described as an "Interdenominational Struggle"
Establishing Three Earths and a multiverse, although as indicated it is not officially called that.
(significant this "Mirror Earth" also predates Star Trek's famous Mirror Universe.

continued....

[kjn]

From the Encyclopedia of Science Fiction:

The UK physicist Oliver Lodge (1851-1940) applied it to the universe or universes of Physics (reported 11 October 1904 Daily News), and the term also appears in the works of G K Chesterton and John Cowper Powys. Michael Moorcock reinvented the word for sf in "The Blood Red Game" (May 1963 Science Fiction Adventures), where it stands for the totality of all possible alternate universes or Parallel Worlds.

Though a quick check of the articles on Chesterton and Powys give little hint on where they might have used the term.

[Judge Dredd]

I'll let someone else describe and post images to the Wonder Woman issue which predates these.

Yet the one DC built it's burgeoning multiverse off of, was
Some history:

1961 -Established and explained by Barry Allen as "two similar Universes" to Jay Garrick in "Flash of Two Worlds" The Flash #123, where Barry Allen is transported to the Earth where the original Flash, Jay Garrick, exists, and calls him back into action.
Establishing the ongoing adventures of what is now known as Earth 2



1963 -This was reestablished in the first team crossover between the JLA a JSA, in "Crisis on Earth-One" (Justice League of America #21) and "Crisis on Earth-Two" (Justice League of America #22).
Which started the yearly JLA and the JSA tradition of crossover between Earth 1 and Earth 2.



1964 - Justice League of AmericaJ #29 - Earth-Three is introduced and the mirror universe, whose history is depicted as a mirror image to that of the Earth we know. And Universe of the Earth-Three analogue to the Justice League, the Crime Syndicate of America



Described as an "Interdenominational Struggle"
Establishing Three Earths and a multiverse, although as indicated it is not officially called that.
(significant this "Mirror Earth" also predates Star Trek's famous Mirror Universe.

continued....

Yes we all know they had multiple earths the question is did they use word multiverse prior to Michael Moorcocks use of it.

[Judge Dredd]

From the Encyclopedia of Science Fiction:



Though a quick check of the articles on Chesterton and Powys give little hint on where they might have used the term.

Excellent this is what I was hoping for I will have to look them up and book mark that site.

[Güicho]

Yes we all know they had multiple earths the question is did they use word multiverse prior to Michael Moorcocks use of it.

Yeah no kidding, that's why I was doing a timeline.

Establishing Three Earths and a multiverse, although as indicated it is not officially called that.

It was to further the discussion, as you can see I was adding a visual time-line of DC's establishment of the concept of multiverse, building to the use of the actual word.




It was meant to add to what you asked about. Not replace it.

Next image was going to be the outargues image of Spectre holding two Earths from colliding, while the Anti-Matter man, from the another established Universe walked across his back like a giant bridge between universes.
Fun stuff! But I will leave it at that.



Good luck with your thread.