Available Copies from Independent Booksellers
Price: US$650.00 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: Octavo, ix, [3], 377pp, [3]. Finely bound in three-quarter red morocco, pebbled cloth-covered boards. Five raised bands, title in gilt on spine with embellished compartments. Top edge gilt, marbled endpapers. No additional printings listed. Solid text block, light wear to corners, some soiling to cover, faint foxing to endpapers and fore edge. Lacking publisher's catalogue at rear. Previous ownership bookplate to front flyleaf. Complete with 89 full page plates, including frontispiece. Features two fold-out map of the title character's delivery route through Russia. (Myers 40) (Taves and Michaluk V015) This copy was translated by Agnes Kinloch Kingston, but published under her husband's name, W. H. G. Kingston. The first edition was originally published one year earlier (1876) in French, by Pierre-Jules Hetzel of Paris.
Seller: The First Edition Rare Books, LLC, Cincinnati, OH, U.S.A.
Jules Verne. Michael Strogoff. Sampson Low, 1877.
Price: US$800.00 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: Michael Strogoff, The Courier of the Czar, London: Sampson Low, Marston, Searle & Rivington, 1877, frontispiece, 89 illustrations, folding map, bookplate & bookseller's ticket to front pastedown, stamp to title, stamp to text leaf offset to map, occasional spotting, original publisher's cloth, all edges gilt, boards marked, corners bumped, extremities slightly rubbed, 8vo
Seller: Neverland Books, waalre, Netherlands
Price: US$962.07 + shipping
Description: First English-language edition in book form. It prints the title story alongside the first revised version of Verne's first published story, "The Mutineers", a Mexican romance that appeared in the magazine Musée des familles in 1851. Though its title page is dated 1877, this book was published in 1876, following serialization in London Society from March 1876. The French edition was also published that year. Octavo. Original brown cloth over bevelled boards, spine and front cover pictorially blocked in gilt and black, blind panelling and publisher's device on rear cover, coated endpapers, edges gilt. Wood-engraved frontispiece with tissue guard, 88 wood-engraved plates, 2 folding maps, by Barbant after Jules Ferat and Léon Benett. Publisher's 24-page catalogue, dated October 1876, at end. Lacking half-title; early ownership inscription on front free endpaper. Spine cocked and faded, gilt remaining bright, extremities slightly rubbed and frayed, with corner wear, split inner hinges with signs of previous glue repair, occasional marks to contents. A very good copy.
Seller: Peter Harrington. ABA/ ILAB., London, United Kingdom
Verne, Jules. MICHAEL STROGOFF, The Courier of the Czar. , 1877.
Price: US$1450.00 + shipping
Description: Verne, Jules. MICHAEL STROGOFF. Translated by W.H.G. Kingston. Revised by Julius Chambers. With Ninety Full-Page Illustrations. New York: Scribner, Armstrong & Company, 1877. 6 pp undated ads. Original green cloth pictorially decorated in black and gilt, beveled. First American Edition of this historical tale of adventure taking place during a Siberian revolt by the Tartars. The czar must get a message to his brother the arch-duke, in Irkutsk, for which he chooses his best courier, Michael Strogoff. The first publication in English, in October 1876, was in a wrappered American edition by Frank Leslie; Sampson Low's U.K. edition came out two months later (in December 1876, despite the 1877 date on the title page). This Scribner Armstrong edition came out a few weeks later, in January 1877; it sold so well that by February a third edition was being advertised. This is a near-fine copy, with minor rubbing at the extremities but otherwise scarcely any external wear or soil (a few leaves stand slightly proud). This highly-sought Verne tale seldom turns up in any better condition. Taves & Michaluk V015; Edwards 15.
Seller: Sumner & Stillman [ABAA], Yarmouth, ME, U.S.A.
Price: US$1500.00 + shipping
Description: 12mo, pp. [i-v] vi [vii] viii-ix [x-xii] [1] 2-377 [378-380: blank] + 32-page publisher's catalogue dated "October, 1878" inserted at rear, 89 full-page plates with illustrations by J. Ferat, two inserted folded maps, publisher's pictorial bevel-edged terra-cotta cloth, front and spine panels stamped in black and gold, rear panel stamped in blind, all edges gilt, salmon endpapers. First British (and first hardcover) edition. Of two known binding variants, this copy has "The Courier of the Czar" but not Verne's name on the front cover (other copies have the opposite). The publisher's catalogue inserted at the rear is later than the usually seen 24-page catalogue dated October 1876. Translation of MICHEL STROGOFF, MOSCOU-IRKOUTSK (Paris: Hetzel, 1876). The first edition in English was an edition published in paper wrappers by Frank Leslie in October 1876. This Sampson Low edition was published in December 1876 (despite the 1877 date on the title page), followed a few weeks later, in January 1877, by Scribner, Armstrong's American hardcover edition (printed from the Sampson Low plates). Although not mentioned on the title page, this edition includes "The Mutineers: A Romance of Mexico" ("Un Drame au Mexique"), Verne's first published story (MUSÉE DES FAMILLES, July 1851). MICHAEL STROGOFF is one of Verne's best books. According to Leonard S. Davidow "Jules Verne has written no better book than this, in fact it is deservedly ranked as one of the most thrilling tales ever written" (foreword, Classic Romances of Literature: Michel Strogoff [Reading, Penn.: The Spencer Press, 1937]). A play based on the novel was written by Verne and Adolphe d'Ennery. Several films, the first a 1914 silent film directed by Lloyd B. Carleton, and at least one TV mini-series, are based on the novel. MICHAEL STROGOFF was republished as a Scribner Classic in 1927 with illustrations by N. C. Wyeth. Myers 40. Taves and Michaluk V015. Neat May 1884 gift inscription on the front free endpaper. Touch of wear at spine ends and corner tips, a tight, bright, very good copy. A lovely, superior copy of this book. (#164547)
Seller: Currey, L.W. Inc. ABAA/ILAB, Elizabethtown, NY, U.S.A.
Price: US$1603.45 + shipping
Condition: Fine
Description: ix, iii, 341pp Folding map frontis. Translated by W.H.G. Kingston; Bound with The MUTINEERS pp 342-377. iii, 24pp [pub. cat dated October 1876]. Original purple gilt decorated illustrated cloth decorated in black and gilt with bevelled edges. Numerous illustrations throughout.The rare first UK edition [2 months preceding the US edition]. The title-page states 1877 but the book was advertised in October 1876 and released in December 1876 in the UK. A wrapper US edition by Leslie was pub. in October 1876. This UK edition is very rare with some copies having a variant green cloth. The front cover has 'The Courier of The Czar' under the main title [this is sometimes omitted]. The spine is a trifle sunned and has the variant gilt panel behind the title. The rear board has a blind stamped publishers monogram and a blind ruled decorative border. A very nice copy with the original pale end-papers with cracks. A large ink owners inscription to the inside front board with C. Maude Dec. 77 heavily written. Size: 8vo
Seller: THOMAS RARE BOOKS, Yaxley, SUFFOLK, United Kingdom
Jules Verne. Michael Strogoff. Sampson Low, London, 1877.
Price: US$1680.00 + shipping
Condition: Good
Description: First U.K. with a problem. Front hinge is very loose, about to go. Top of spine is torn. Green cloth with Gilt and black pictorial cover and spine. A.E.G. 2 folding maps as well as many illustrations. All illustrations are present. Front cover reads Michael Strogoff the courier of the Czar and does not give author's name. 24 pages of ads dated Oct. 1876. Besides the weakness in the binding still an attractive book.
Seller: Culpepper Books, Tacoma, WA, U.S.A.
Price: US$2300.00 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: First British Edition in brown cloth pictorially decorated in black and gilt, bordered and with publisher's device stamped in blind on rear, all edge gilt, beveled edges. Tissue paper guarded frontispiece, two folding maps and numerous additional full page plates. Published with The Mutineers. Translated from the French by W. H. G. Kingston. 24 page catalog dated October, 1876 at rear. Taves & Michaluk V015; Myers 40. London: Sampson Low, Marston, Searle, and Rivington (1877), 377 pages. A Very Good copy; bright cloth with modest rubbing, shaken, light fraying at tips, small stain on rear. Hinges cracked but holding, ink writing on front pastedown.
Seller: SF & F Books, Chester, VA, U.S.A.
Verne, Jules. MICHAEL STROGOFF. , 1877.
Price: US$2650.00 + shipping
Description: The Courier of the Czar. Translated by W. H. G. Kingston. Revised by Julius Chambers. With Ninety Full-Page Illustrations. New York: Scribner, Armstrong & Company, 1877. 6 pp undated ads. Original green cloth pictorially decorated in black and gilt, beveled. First Illustrated (and first hard-bound) American Edition of this historical tale of adventure taking place during a Siberian revolt by the Tartars. The czar must get a message to his brother the arch-duke, in Irkutsk, for which he chooses his best courier, Michael Strogoff. The first publication in English, in October 1876, was in a wrappered American edition by Frank Leslie; Sampson Low's U. K. edition came out two months later (in December 1876, despite the 1877 date on the title page). This Scribner Armstrong edition came out a few weeks later, in January 1877; it sold so well that by February a third edition was being advertised. This copy is in green cloth, one of several colors used without priority (we have also had terra-cotta and red). It is in fine condition, with scarcely any wear or soil. We have never seen a copy in better condition. Taves & Michaluk V015; Edwards 15.
Seller: Sumner & Stillman [ABAA], Yarmouth, ME, U.S.A.