Available Copies from Independent Booksellers
Jules Verne. Meridiana or Adventures in South Africa. Scribner, Armstrong, New York, 1874.
Price: US$64.00 + shipping
Condition: Good
Description: Brown cloth with gilt . All illustrations present. Rubbing on front cover,edges worn, gift inscription on F.E.P>.Small name stamp on two pags one being title page,.loose in bindiing, so far from a perfect copy.
Seller: Culpepper Books, Tacoma, WA, U.S.A.
Price: US$100.00 + shipping
Description: Octavo, pp. [1-2: blank] [3-4] [i-iii] iv-v [vi-vii] viii [1] 2-232 [233-242: ads], fly leaves at front and rear, 48 illustrations by J. Ferat, original pictorial green cloth, front and spine panels stamped in gold and blind, rear panel stamped in blind, yellow endpapers. First authorized U.S. edition, later printing. This Scribner, Armstrong edition (a later printing advertising three titles including MERIDIANA; the first printing advertises only two titles, A JOURNEY TO THE MOON and A JOURNEY TO THE CENTRE OF THE EARTH) was issued the same day the unauthorized edition of MERIDIANA was published in Boston by Henry L. Shepard & Co. as ADVENTURES IN THE LAND OF THE BEHEMOTH. Prior to publishing this edition, Scribner, Welford, & Armstrong imported sheets of the British 1872 Sampson Low edition [title page dated 1873] printed by Gilbert and Rivington and bound in England by Burn & Co. with a cancel title leaf mounted on a stub (this issue was perhaps prepared quickly to precede or compete with the Shepard's unauthorized edition). Myers 39. Taves and Michaluk V009. Cloth lightly worn at spine ends and corners and some rubbing along bottom and fore edges, a good copy with bright stamping and tight, clean interior. (#173593)
Seller: Currey, L.W. Inc. ABAA/ILAB, Elizabethtown, NY, U.S.A.
Price: US$120.00 + shipping
Condition: Good
Description: 4000 shelf. Gold-stamped embossed sienna cloth. Rubbed covers w/ some edgewear. No names, clean text. With fabulous b/w uncredited wood engravings. Translated from the French. Pg 107 to 118 (age browned at edges) loose & laid in. 2 pgs ads. Still very attractive. Scarce! 232 p.
Seller: Gil's Book Loft, Binghamton, NY, U.S.A.
Verne, Jules. Stories of Adventure. Scribners, 1874.
Price: US$125.00 + shipping
Condition: Near Fine
Description: With 68 Full-Page Illustrations. I. MERIDIANA. II. A JOURNEY TO THE CENTRE OF THE EARTH. New York: Scribner, Armstrong & Co., 1874. 8 pp undated ads + 2 single page ads after the title page of each novel. 3 identical ad catalog pages ( "Caution" against buying these titles by any other publisher (which "are PIRATED, and cannot fail to be inferior in every particular"). 2nd issue with spine imprint of Scribners on the foot. Original brown cloth decorated in gilt and black. First Combined Edition. 48 MERIDIANA illustrations with just 20 of them from the other title. A good reading example of this scarce 1st edition with assorted areas of wear. Not in collectable condition example but a good place-filler, in need of restoration, till you can find one of reasonable cost.
Seller: White Mountains, Rare Books and Maps, Lincoln, NH, U.S.A.
Price: US$199.95 + shipping
Condition: Good
Description: Rare original antique Victorian Copy of Jules Verne's "A Journey to the Centre of the Earth." The book is overall in good condition with some signs of wear and age. It is undated but circa 1874; there is an ad at the rear of the book for publications from the year 1873. The covers have some mild wear. The front fep is no longer present and there is some cracking to the front interior hinge; however, the binding is still good and sound. The interior is lightly toned from age with just the occasional light bit of foxing, soiling, or grubbiness. Along with that there may be the very occasional page with some kind of other minor imperfection such as a tiny chip or tear, minor interior crack, creased page corner, etc. Generally though, it's a good copy. The book measures approximately 7 3/4 inches by 5 1/2 inches and is 305 pages long with some additional pages of ads at the rear.
Seller: Nevermore Bookstore, Wallingford, CT, U.S.A.
Price: US$240.00 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: preceded by a /Scribner Welford edition, made from a British edition, very clean sharp book. 2nd US printing Language: eng Language: eng Language: eng
Seller: Ian Thompson, Milton, ON, Canada
Verne, Jules. ADVENTURES IN THE LAND OF THE BEHEMOTH .. Henry L. Shepard & Co., Boston, 1874.
Price: US$250.00 + shipping
Description: Octavo, pp. [1-2] 3-4 [5-6] 7-190 [191-192: blank] [note: last leaf is a blank], fly leaves at front and rear, twenty inserted plates with illustrations by J. Ferat, original pictorial red cloth, front and spine panels stamped in black and gold, slate coated endpapers. An unauthorized edition. A translation of AVENTURES DE TROIS RUSSES ET DE TROIS ANGLAIS DANS L'AFRIQUE AUSTRALE (1872). Shepard's edition was preceded by the authorized 1873 Scribner, Welford & Armstrong edition titled MERIDIANA: THE ADVENTURES OF THREE ENGLISHMEN AND THREE RUSSIANS IN SOUTH AFRICA . (an edition made up from the sheets of the British edition published by Sampson Low in late 1872, but dated 1873 on the title page). Shepard's pirated edition was published the same day as Scribner's authorized new edition of MERIDIANA (their first edition to be printed in America). The texts of the Shepard and the Scribner translations differ considerably. Bleiler (1948), p. 273. Myers 39 (addenda, p. 2). Taves and Michaluk V009. Spine lean, cloth worn at spine ends and corner tips, several stains to cloth, an ex-lending library copy with the Richmond Library Association's "rules and regulations" label affixed to the front paste-down, their ink-stamp on the first page of the story, and the remnant of a checkout slip on the rear paste-down, tissue guard foxed, some soiling throughout, but a sound reading copy which was described by an earlier seller as a "remarkably bright copy, near fine, with very little wear but a little soil near the edges; the front and rear paste-downs bear old local library indications." So it goes . (#164625)
Seller: Currey, L.W. Inc. ABAA/ILAB, Elizabethtown, NY, U.S.A.
Verne, Jules. ADVENTURES IN THE LAND OF THE BEHEMOTH .. Henry L. Shepard & Co., Boston, 1874.
Price: US$250.00 + shipping
Description: Octavo, pp. [1-2] 3-4 [5-6] 7-190 [191-192: blank] [note: last leaf is a blank], fly leaves at front and rear, twenty inserted plates with illustrations by J. Ferat, publisher's pictorial green cloth, front and spine panels stamped in black and gold, slate coated endpapers. An unauthorized edition. A translation of AVENTURES DE TROIS RUSSES ET DE TROIS ANGLAIS DANS L'AFRIQUE AUSTRALE (1872). Shepard's edition was preceded by the authorized 1873 Scribner, Welford & Armstrong edition titled MERIDIANA: THE ADVENTURES OF THREE ENGLISHMEN AND THREE RUSSIANS IN SOUTH AFRICA . (an edition made up from the sheets of the British edition published by Sampson Low in late 1872, but dated 1873 on the title page). Shepard's pirated edition was published the same day as Scribner's authorized new edition of MERIDIANA (their first edition to be printed in America). The texts of the Shepard and the Scribner translations differ considerably. Bleiler (1948), p. 273. Myers 39 (addenda, p. 2). Taves and Michaluk V009. Cloth worn at spine ends and corner tips, a bit of soiling and rubbing to rear cover, frontispiece tissue guard foxed, a sound good or better copy. (#173598)
Seller: Currey, L.W. Inc. ABAA/ILAB, Elizabethtown, NY, U.S.A.
Price: US$299.19 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: FULL TITLE: Meridiana: The Adventures of Three Englishmen and Three Russians in South Africa Written by Jules Verne Published by Scribner, Armstrong & Co., New York Language: English (translated from the original French) DESCRIPTION: Meridiana: The Adventures of Three Englishmen and Three Russians in South Africa, by Jules Verne, translated from the French, published by Scribner, Armstrong & Co., New York, 1874. 1st authorized American edition. First American edition, published the same day as Shepard's pirated edition. Published in 1874 by Scribner, Armstrong & Company of New York. 1st state, with only two titles listed in the advertisement on the title verso. Embellished with 48 full-page illustrations. Translated from the original French. French version published in 1872. Bound in contemporary blindstamped terra-cotta cloth & bright gilt front cover title. Gilt spine titling. Title-page with frontispiece accompaniment. This South African travel adventure novel was initially published in the original French in 1872, as Aventures de Trois Russes et de Trois Anglais Dans L'Afrique Australe. Sampson Low's English edition, titled Meridiana (with the nationalities reversed in favor of the Englishmen in the subtitle, as here), was issued in November 1872 but was dated 1873. In the same month, some of these copies (printed and bound in England) were imported into the U.S. and equipped with title pages of Scribner's import house, Scribner, Welford and Armstrong (likewise dated 1873)--technically the American issue of the first English edition, and extremely scarce today. This 1874 Meridiana was then the first edition actually produced in America therefore, the first American edition (though Henry Shepard also published an unauthorized pirate edition, titled Adventures in the Land of the Behemoth, with an altered translation and fewer illustrations, on the very same day). CONDITION: Very good condition; inscription on ffep; cover-boards have very minimal corner & edgewear; minor damage of delicate head & tail pieces on spine; impression of a thumbnail scratch on front cover. BOOK MEASUREMENTS: 19.5 cm X 13.5 cm TOTAL LENGTH: 232 pages + 2 rearmost pages of advertisements
Seller: McClosky's Antiquarian Books & Cards, Georgina, ON, Canada
Price: US$300.00 + shipping
Condition: Poor
Description: Meridiana: Adventure of Three Englishmen and Three Russians in South Africa, By Jules Verne, Translated from the French. With Numerous Illustrations, Scribner, Armstrong & Co., New York, 1874, frontispiece with 47 additional full page interior illustrations, decorative brick cloth, ads on the verso of title page, five titles including this one, with eight pages of ads in rear, 232 pp, 8 x 5.5, 8vo. In as-is condition. Spine split, darkened with loss of head. Tail crushed. A great candidate for restoration, if desired. Light wear to extremities with minor scuffing to edges and corners. End papers clean and bright. Light toning throughout text with minor instance of foxing and light age stain. Loose signatures 59-70 pp, 91-104 pp. Split at mid-gutter. Binding shaken. Please see photos. First American Edition. Myers printing A, with two titles listed on the t.p. verso, but in a variant binding cloth. Octavo (19.5cm). In brick red cloth, titled in gold on front and on spine; yellow endpapers; one-page ad on verso of title page and 2pp of ads at rear; viii, 232, [ii]pp; 48 full-page illustrations.
Seller: ROBIN RARE BOOKS at the Midtown Scholar, Harrisburg, PA, U.S.A.
Verne, Jules. A JOURNEY TO THE CENTRE OF THE EARTH .. Scribner, New York, 1874.
Price: US$350.00 + shipping
Description: 12mo, pp. [1-6] 1-305 [306: blank] [307-316: ads], flyleaves at front and rear, 20 illustrations by Riou, publisher's decorated green cloth, front and spine panels stamped in gold and blind, rear panel stamped in blind, yellow endpapers. First printing of Scribner, Armstrong's "popular" edition. This undated 305-page edition with 20 full-page illustrations was preceded by a 384-page Scribner, Armstrong edition with 52 full-page illustrations, printed from the plates of the British 1872 Sampson Low edition. Although its title page is dated 1874, the Scribner, Armstrong edition was published 8 November 1873 at $2.00 per copy. Scribner, Armstrong's "popular" edition was published in June 1874 at 75¢ to undermine sales of the unauthorized edition published in Boston in 1874 by the Henry L. Shepard & Co. The "popular" edition may have been published simultaneously with Scribner, Armstrong's more lavish 413-page "complete" edition, which sold for $3.00. The "popular" edition advertises three Verne books published by Scribner, Armstrong, MERIDIANA, FROM THE EARTH TO THE MOON, and A JOURNEY TO THE CENTRE OF THE EARTH (offered here in both "popular" and "complete" editions). Verne's second novel, a translation of VOYAGE AU CENTRE DE LA TERRE (1864). Anatomy of Wonder (1995) 1-94 and (2004) II-1182. Angenot and Khouri, "An International Bibliography of Prehistoric Fiction," SFS, VIII (March 1981), 47. Bleiler, Science-Fiction: The Early Years 2228. Clareson, Science Fiction in America, 1870s-1930s 766. Survey of Science Fiction Literature III, pp. 1102-05. Suvin, Victorian Science Fiction in the UK, p. 16. In 333. Bleiler (1978), p. 199. Reginald 14630. Myers 35. Taves and Michaluk V002. Cloth worn with shallow loss at corner tips and spine ends, else a clean, tight, good or better copy. (#173532)
Seller: Currey, L.W. Inc. ABAA/ILAB, Elizabethtown, NY, U.S.A.
Verne, Jules. From the Earth to the Moon. Scribner, Armstrong & Co., New York, 1874.
Price: US$500.00 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: First U.S. edition. Expertly repair at spine, spine tips and inner hinges. Brick colored cloth, decorated in gilt and black. Front endpaper a bit discolored, about very good overall.
Seller: Graver & Pen Rare Books, Midland, MI, U.S.A.
Price: US$500.00 + shipping
Description: 12mo, pp. [1-4] [i-ii] iii-vi [vii] viii 1-413 [414: blank] [415-420: ads], flyleaves at front and rear, 55 full-page illustrations and title page vignette by Riou, original brown cloth, front and spine panels stamped in black and gold, rear panel stamped in blind, yellow endpapers. First printing of Scribner, Armstrong's "complete" edition, published at $3.00 and released in late 1874 or early 1875. This undated 413-page edition with 55 full-page illustrations was preceded by a Scribner, Armstrong edition with title page dated 1874 with 384 pages and 52 full-page illustrations (a copy of this 1874 edition has been noted signed and dated 4 November 1873 by an early owner). This earlier version was offset from the plates of the British 1872 Sampson Low edition and was offered for sale at $2.00. It is probable that Scribner, Armstrong rushed out this early version to compete with the unauthorized edition published in Boston by the Henry L. Shepard & Co. in 1874. Scribner, Armstrong's "complete" edition has reset text with printer's imprints on title leaf verso reading "Jas. B. Rogers Co. / Printers and Stereotypers, / Philadelphia" and "John F. Trow & Sons, / Printers and Bookbinders, / 205-213 East 12th St., / New York." Pages [415-420] are publishers' advertisements with a single Verne title, FROM THE EARTH TO THE MOON DIRECT IN 97 HOURS, 20 MINUTES, listed on page [420]. The title page calls for 52 illustrations by Riou, the spine panel for 53, but there are actually a total of 55 full page illustrations in the text as per the "list of illustrations." This "complete" issue, published at $3.00, was probably released simultaneously with the "popular" issue, 305 pages with 20 illustrations, published at 75¢. In any event, both editions were available by or before Scribner, Armstrong issued the first part of THE MYSTERIOUS ISLAND in 1875 as both are advertised on the title leaf verso along with A FLOATING CITY and THE BLOCKADE-RUNNERS, the latter noted as "just issued." Regardless of the matter of priority of these Scribner, Armstrong editions, this "complete" issue is quite scarce and it is a very desirable edition of A JOURNEY TO THE CENTRE OF THE EARTH. Translation of VOYAGE AU CENTRE DE LA TERRE (1864). Anatomy of Wonder (1995) 1-94 and (2004) II-1182. Angenot and Khouri, "An International Bibliography of Prehistoric Fiction," SFS, VIII (March 1981), 47. Bleiler, Science-Fiction: The Early Years 2228. Clareson, Science Fiction in America, 1870s-1930s 766. Survey of Science Fiction Literature III, pp. 1102-05. Suvin, Victorian Science Fiction in the UK, p. 16. In 333. Bleiler (1978), p. 199. Reginald 14630. Myers 35. Taves and Michaluk V002. This copy has smoke and water damage from a fire, but is a tight, presentable copy overall. A decent copy of a rare and desirable edition of this book. (#165801)
Seller: Currey, L.W. Inc. ABAA/ILAB, Elizabethtown, NY, U.S.A.
Price: US$550.00 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: Original decorated brown cloth. Complete with 68 illustrations. "On July 7, 1874 Scribner, Armstrong copyrighted Stories of Adventure, two volumes in one, which contains Meridiana and A Journey to the Centre of the Earth. This book was published by July 4, 1874, and is bound in pictorial cloth with the front cover design borrowed from the earlier Scribner, Welford, Armstrong edition of Meridiana." Taves, Michaluk, V009, p. 132. Of the 68 illustrations, 48 are for Meridiana and the remaining 20 for Journey. Now recased and very clean, bright and solid. Also, Myers, 39, p. 48. Very Good.
Seller: First Place Books - ABAA, ILAB, Walkersville, MD, U.S.A.
Verne, Jules. From the Earth to the Moon. Scribner, Armstrong & Co., New York, 1874.
Price: US$600.00 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: First U.S. edition. Plate affixed to front pastedown endpaper. Slight loss to tip of spine cloth, some wear to edges and corners. Green cloth, decorated in gilt and black.
Seller: Graver & Pen Rare Books, Midland, MI, U.S.A.
VERNE, Jules. The American Gun Club. Scribner, Armstrong & Company, New York, 1874.
Price: US$600.00 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: First edition thus. Translated by Louis Mercier and Eleanor E. King. Octavo. vii, 142, [4 ads] pp. Illustrated. Binding with modest general wear, three tiny partial perforations on the unprinted rear board, tissue guard with a small lightly foxed spot that has offset just a bit onto the adjacent pages, close to near fine save that it lacks the brown coated front flyleaf, thus very good. A section from Verne's *The Earth to the Moon in Ninety-Seven Hours and Twenty Minutes, and a Trip Around it*; a publisher's note on the copyright page states that this volume was published to counter a spurious reprint of this section of the novel (that work was titled *The Baltimore Gun Club*). The publishers notes that this edition contains double the illustrations of the pirated edition and is being sold for half the cost.
Seller: Between the Covers-Rare Books, Inc. ABAA, Gloucester City, NJ, U.S.A.
Price: US$608.41 + shipping
Description: [Science Fiction] FIRST THUS, a partial reprint of 'From the Earth to the Moon.' Octavo (20 x 14cm), pp.[2] viii; 142 [4]. With 24 engraved plates, including a frontispiece. Publisher's brown cloth with gilt titles to spine and upper. Brown-coated endpapers. Some damage to upper hinge. Purple ownership stamp to front and rear blanks. Light spotting to preliminaries; toning throughout. Moderate rubbing, water sprinkling, and some general grubbiness to cloth; spine toned. Very good. A rare edition, published purely to kill an unauthorised edition of the first half of 'From the Earth to the Moon' titled 'The Baltimore Gun Club' which appeared a little before Scribner's complete edition. Another splendid example of Mr. Verne's imaginary sweep, including a giant space-gun, a bullet-spaceship furnished like a high class railway carriage, and a bunch of stalwart chaps careering round in space dressed in frock coats surrounded by an orbiting cloud of broken bottles, food wrappers and dead dogs. All in a day's work for Mr. Verne, although he may have broken his golden rule here and left out either pirates or giant steam powered elephants. This translation first published in London in 1873.
Seller: Adrian Harrington Ltd, PBFA, ABA, ILAB, Royal Tunbridge Wells, KENT, United Kingdom
Price: US$785.00 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: First Edition; two books in one - Meridiana: The Adventures of Three Englishmen and Three Russians in South Africa and A Journey To the Centre of the Earth. Brown cloth pictorially decorated in gilt and black, yellow endpapers. With 68 illustrations; 48 from Meridiana and 20 from Journey (there is are two of the same illustration (page 230) accidentally bound in, one after the other at the end of Meridiana. Eight pages of ads at rear. Taves & Michaluk V009; Myers 39. New York: Scribner and Armstrong & Co. (1874), 232 and 305 pages. VG copy with slightly sun lightened spine, small tear to cloth at crown, fraying/wear to spine ends and tips, modest rubbing. Previous owner's name sticker to f.f.e., penciled math problems to rear free end page.
Seller: SF & F Books, Chester, VA, U.S.A.
Jules Verne. A Journey to the Centre of the Earth. Scribner Armstrong and Company, 1874.
Price: US$815.00 + shipping
Condition: Good
Description: Scribner Armstrong and Company, New York (1874). First Scribner Armstrong Popular Edition. Undated 305 page edition. 20 Illustrations. Preceded by a 384 page Scribner Armstrong edition with 52 illustrations. Stamped in gold. Red variant cloth boards. Ads at page 307 with three titles: Meridiana, From the Earth to the Moon, A Journey to the Centre of the Earth. Book Condition: Good+, shelf wear, rubbing on the boards, light spots. Owner inscription at the second blank page dated 1874, rounded corners.
Seller: 1st Editions and Antiquarian Books, Opelika, AL, U.S.A.
Price: US$850.00 + shipping
Description: Octavo, pp. [i-iii] iv-vi [vii-viii] 9-294 [295-296: blank], flyleaves at front and rear, title page vignette and 15 inserted plates with illustrations by Riou, publisher's pictorial green cloth, front and spine panels stamped in black and gold, brown coated endpapers. Unauthorized U.S. edition, a piracy of the 1874 (i.e. 1873) Scribner, Armstrong edition. Presumed early copy with "H. L. Shepard Co." at the foot of the spine panel. Perhaps the first edition of this book to be printed in the U.S. The earliest edition published by Scribner, Armstrong was printed from the plates of the 1872 Sampson Low edition. Translation of VOYAGE AU CENTRE DE LA TERRE (1864). Anatomy of Wonder (1995) 1-94 and (2004) II-1182. Angenot and Khouri, "An International Bibliography of Prehistoric Fiction," SFS, VIII (March 1981), 47. Bleiler, Science-Fiction: The Early Years 2228. Clareson, Science Fiction in America, 1870s-1930s 766. Survey of Science Fiction Literature III, pp. 1102-05. Suvin, Victorian Science Fiction in the UK, p. 16. In 333. Bleiler (1978), p. 199. Reginald 14630. Taves and Michaluk V002. This edition not recorded by Myers. Cloth worn and frayed with shallow loss at spine ends and corner tips, some rubbing to cloth along outer joints and fore-edges, rear panel a bit rubbed and a bit soiled, a tight, clean, good copy with bright cover stamping. (#173592)
Seller: Currey, L.W. Inc. ABAA/ILAB, Elizabethtown, NY, U.S.A.
Price: US$875.00 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: New York: Scribner, Armstrong & Co., 1874. viii, 142 + [4] ad pp. With 24 wood-engraved plates. 7½x4¾, original terra-cotta cloth stamped in gilt. This title is in fact the first part of the Verne sequence, "De la Terre a la Lune" and "Autour de la lune", in an early presentation in English. The book was originally published as the two French first edition parts, then in one volume in English, published by Sampson Low in 1873 in London. Scribner, Armstrong produced a one-volume edition in 1874, then King & Baird of Philadelphia published an unauthorized issue of the first part, titled "The Baltimore Gun Club." Scribner, Armstrong quickly produced the present edition in competition with that volume, containing twice the number of illustrations. Quite scarce. Myers 26. Provenance: From the Library of William Augustus Brewer. Modest soiling and rubbing to the cloth, spine moderately sunned, extremities a bit worn and bumped; Very Good. See scans. L38n
Seller: Singularity Rare & Fine, Baldwinsville, NY, U.S.A.
Price: US$935.00 + shipping
Condition: Fair
Description: First US Edition, Red publishers cloth with highly decorated gold-gilt pictorial stamped cloth binding. Boards show rubbing and shelf wear. All gilt intact. Light white staining of grooves of mountains on front cover. Could be from paint or dust. Top of the spine has small micro tear less than 1/16" of inch. Bottom spine has similar tears, three in all. Bottom corners are more bumped than the top. Gift inscription on front free flypaper reading" W.S. Simmons from Alice, Christmas 1873" Slight toning of pages. A few fingerprint stains and light foxing of text pages. Pages from 244 on have a water stain on top right corner. Missing illustration at p.95. Hinge is slightly visible on interior hinge, but is still functioning. Some light foxing throughout. Otherwise a very sound copy with 4 pages of ads. The rear paste down on the rear board has some bubbling on the top right quadrant. Translated from The French by Louis Mercier, M.A. (Oxon,) and Eleanor E. King with Eighty Full Page Illustrations Pictures on request.
Seller: Adams Shore Books, Quincy, MA, U.S.A.
Price: US$1000.00 + shipping
Condition: Good
Description: viii, 142, [4] p., interspersed with plates. 20 cm. Frontispiece and 23 other b&w plates. Brown cloth with gold impressing. Mylar wrap, removed for photos. Spine faded with tears in ends. Corners worn. Some light denting to lower edges. Tears in pp. 21, 89. Chip in p. 23. "The American Gun Club" has a complicated publishing history. This title is the Anglicized first part of the Verne sequence "De la Terre a la Lune" and "Autour de la Lune." The two parts were originally published together in French, then in one volume in English by Sampson Low in London. Scribner, Armstrong produced a one-volume edition in 1874. Then King & Baird of Philadelphia published an unauthorized issue of the first part titled "The Baltimore Gun Club." Scribner, Armstrong quickly produced this edition in competition with K&B's, containing twice the number of Illustrations. Adverising on title verso includes the full English title "From the Earth of the Moon." Myers 26. Taves & Michaluk V007.
Seller: Attic Books (ABAC, ILAB), London, ON, Canada
Price: US$1018.29 + shipping
Description: [Science Fiction] FIRST THUS, a partial reprint of 'From the Earth to the Moon.' Octavo (20 x 14cm), pp.[2] viii; 142 [4]. With 24 engraved plates, including a frontispiece. Publisher's brown cloth with gilt titles to spine and upper. Brown-coated endpapers. Inside joints are tight (often cracked), no ink names, contents clean, binding a little rubbed and handled, some minor bumping; a very good copy indeed. A rare edition, published purely to kill an unauthorised edition of the first half of 'From the Earth to the Moon' titled 'The Baltimore Gun Club' which appeared a little before Scribner's complete edition. Another splendid example of Mr. Verne's imaginary sweep, including a giant space-gun, a bullet-spaceship furnished like a high class railway carriage, and a bunch of stalwart chaps careering round in space dressed in frock coats surrounded by an orbiting cloud of broken bottles, food wrappers and dead dogs. All in a day's work for Mr. Verne, although he may have broken his golden rule here and left out either pirates or giant steam powered elephants. This translation first published in London in 1873.
Seller: Adrian Harrington Ltd, PBFA, ABA, ILAB, Royal Tunbridge Wells, KENT, United Kingdom
Price: US$1495.96 + shipping
Description: First hardcover edition and first combined U.S. edition. With the advert on the verso of the title with one title; "A Journey to the Centre of the Earth, $2.00." 8vo., orig. rust cloth with pictorial decoration in gilt and black on the upper cover and spine, viii, 323pp. With illustrations. This copy has been professionally rebacked with the original spine laid down; the spine is almost fully in tact, although there is loss of about 1"x1 ½" at the foot affecting the imprint and someone has somewhat crudely tried to replicate the missing text and design; the design at the head of the spine also appears to have been touched up with ink. There is a dampstain, which in the first half of the book is on the lower edge extending part way up the outer margin but becomes less pronounced about half way through the book.
Seller: David Mason Books (ABAC), Toronto, ON, Canada
Jules Verne. From The Earth To The Moon. Scribner, Armstrong & Company, 1874.
Price: US$1500.00 + shipping
Condition: Near Fine
Description: Scribner, Armstrong & Company, New York, 1874. True First US hardcover edition. With the advert on the verso of the title with one title; "A Journey to the Centre of the Earth, $2.00." 8vo., orig. Deep and bright cobalt blue cloth with pictorial decoration in gilt and black on the upper cover and spine, viii, 323pp. With illustrations. Minor Rubbing to bottom edge of front and back covers. Some small damp stains to few pages, otherwise in near fine tight solid condition.
Seller: J. Mercurio Books, Maps, & Prints IOBA, Garrison, NY, U.S.A.
Verne, Jules. A JOURNEY TO THE CENTRE OF THE EARTH .. Scribner, New York, 1874.
Price: US$1500.00 + shipping
Description: 12mo, pp. [1-6] 1-305 [306: blank] [307-316: ads], flyleaves at front and rear, 20 illustrations by Riou, publisher's decorated green cloth, front and spine panels stamped in gold and blind, rear panel stamped in blind, yellow endpapers. First printing of Scribner, Armstrong's "popular" edition. This undated 305-page edition with 20 full-page illustrations was preceded by a 384-page Scribner, Armstrong edition with 52 full-page illustrations, printed from the plates of the British 1872 Sampson Low edition. Although its title page is dated 1874, the Scribner, Armstrong edition was published 8 November 1873 at $2.00 per copy. Scribner, Armstrong's "popular" edition was published in June 1874 at 75¢ to undermine sales of the unauthorized edition published in Boston in 1874 by the Henry L. Shepard & Co. The "popular" edition may have been published simultaneously with Scribner, Armstrong's more lavish 413-page "complete" edition, which sold for $3.00. The "popular" edition advertises three Verne books published by Scribner, Armstrong, MERIDIANA, FROM THE EARTH TO THE MOON, and A JOURNEY TO THE CENTRE OF THE EARTH (offered here in both "popular" and "complete" editions). Verne's second novel, a translation of VOYAGE AU CENTRE DE LA TERRE (1864). Anatomy of Wonder (1995) 1-94 and (2004) II-1182. Angenot and Khouri, "An International Bibliography of Prehistoric Fiction," SFS, VIII (March 1981), 47. Bleiler, Science-Fiction: The Early Years 2228. Clareson, Science Fiction in America, 1870s-1930s 766. Survey of Science Fiction Literature III, pp. 1102-05. Suvin, Victorian Science Fiction in the UK, p. 16. In 333. Bleiler (1978), p. 199. Reginald 14630. Myers 35. Taves and Michaluk V002. Cloth rubbed at edges and lightly soiled, else a clean, tight, very good or better copy. (#135416)
Seller: Currey, L.W. Inc. ABAA/ILAB, Elizabethtown, NY, U.S.A.
Price: US$2500.00 + shipping
Condition: Fair
Description: From the Earth to the Moon Direct in Ninety-Seven Hours and Twenty Minutes: And a Trip Round It. By Jules Verne, Author of "A Journey to the Centre of the Earth." Translated from the French by Louis Mercier, M.A., (Oxon,) and Eleanor E. King. With Eighty Full Page Illustrations. New-York: Scribner, Armstrong & Company, 1874, First American Edition, decorative green cloth boards with black and gilt impressing: gilt spaceship traveling to the moon over mountains and an ocean on front board & a man perusing a bookshelf in a study at tail of spine with a crescent moon in the shadow of a full moon at head of spine. 323 pp, 8 x 5.5", 8vo. **Protective mylar dust jacket included with purchase. In fair condition. Green deco binding presents very well - gilt and black blind stamping is generally dulled from age. A small white scuff mark is exhibited on front board - above the gilt word "Moon" in title. Gilt lettering and deco on spine worn from tanning. Head and tail of spine bumped & cloth beginning to chip/fray. Provenance found on front paste-down. Light toning throughout text-block with some small instance of age-staining. Pages 122 - 142 (a complete signature) attached by cording only - fragile & needs repair. Small tea stain exhibited to top corners of approximately page 300 to end of text-block. Some instances of exposed cording throughout text-block. Binding is intact, however, repair is needed for loose signature. Please see photos and ask questions, if any, before purchasing. Originally published in French in 1865 as De la Terre à la Lune, tract direct en 97 hears 20 minutes, this first American edition in English was published nine years later with illustrations - which includes the sequel story Around the Moon (which Verne completed in 1870). From the Earth to the Moon tells the story of the Baltimore Gun Club, a post-American Civil War society of weapons enthusiasts, and their attempts to build an enormous Columbian space gun and launch three people in a projectile with the goal of a Moon landing. Verne's moon story is notable in that he attempted to do some rough calculations as to the requirements for the cannon and in that, considering the comparative lack of empirical data on the subject at the time, some of his figures are remarkably accurate. However, his version of a space gun for a non-rocket space launch turned out to be impractical for safe human space travel since a much longer barrel would have been required to reach escape velocity while limiting acceleration to survivable limits for the passengers. However impractical it may be, Verne's novel influences several aspects of popular culture including H.G. Wells' 1901 novel The First Men on the Moon where the protagonist mentions Verne's novel to his companion. The first incarnation in 1995 of the roller coaster Space Mountain in Disneyland Paris, named Space Mountain: De la Terre à la Lune, was based loosely on the novel. Also, during they return journey from the Moon, the crew of Apollo 11 made reference to Verne's book during a TV broadcast on July 23, 1969. The mission's commander, Neil Armstrong said, "A hundred years ago, Jules Verne wrote a book about a voyage to the Moon. His spaceship, Columbia, took off from Florida and landed in the Pacific Ocean after completing a trip to the Moon. It seem appropriate to us to share with you some of the reflections of the crew as the modern-day Columbia completes in rendezvous with the planet Earth and the same Pacific Ocean tomorrow." Presents very well. Gift quality.
Seller: ROBIN RARE BOOKS at the Midtown Scholar, Harrisburg, PA, U.S.A.
Price: US$13277.50 + shipping
Description: SCIENCE FICTION BECOMES SCIENCE FACT THE AMERICAN GUN CLUB ( FROM THE EARTH TO THE MOON), Scribner, Armstrong & Company, 1874, first edition, obvious wear to the fore edge corner tips and bottom edges with some cloth loss, spine darkened with cloth loss at head & heel of spine, covers somewhat soiled and rubbed, rear inner hinge open, else perhaps a decent copy in the publishers original gold-gilt pictorial cloth. This copy INSCRIBED by Neil Armstrong & Buzz Aldrin to a most prominent collector and Sam Moskowitz Archive award winner. This title re-publishes the first half of its earlier released version FROM THE EARTH TO THE MOON including 24 full page illustrations. Translated from the French by Louis Mercier. and Eleanor E. King. An instant heirloom virtually impossible to find INSCRIBED as this is.
Seller: THE FINE BOOKS COMPANY / A.B.A.A / 1979, ROCHESTER, MI, U.S.A.