Jules Verne | First Editions
1828 - 1905
Jules Gabriel Verne (February 8, 1828 - March 24, 1905) was a French author from Nantes often described as a pioneer of the science-fiction genre. His output of "speculative fiction" was enormous numbering such major highlights as Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea (1870), A Journey to the Center of the Earth (1864), and Around the World in Eighty Days (1873) to name but a few. Verne is one of those enormously prolific writers of "scientific" fiction whose vision of the future (and indeed of the potential of the present) often verges on spooky prescience. Everything from the nuclear submarine to space travel to aqualungs and monorails could conceivably be laid at his door. His work is occasionally criticised for its slightly prejudiced tendencies; women tended to be virtually invisible, ethnic minorities were often used for either overtly sinister or ridiculously comic effect and his novels often give the impression that somewhere he had a list of national stereotypes he was sticking a pin into.
See below our stock of Jules Verne First Editions, fine bindings, sets and other collectible material.
Contribute [to THE STRAND MAGAZINE]; The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes. Volumes I to VI.
London: George Newnes, 1891-1893. [Literary Magazine] FIRST APPEARANCES. Six volumes. Large octavo (24 x 18 x 25cm). Illustrated throughout. Original half-yearly volumes, recently re-bound in tan half calf, with gilt titles and decoration to spines, marbled paper over boards and all edges speckled red. Moderate spotting throughout. An attractive set..... More
The Strand Magazine, volumes I to VI. [The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes; The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, etc.]
London: George Newnes, 1891-1893. [Literary Magazine] FIRST APPEARANCES. Six volumes. Large octavo (24 x 18 x 25cm). Illustrated throughout. Original magazine parts bound in half-yearly volumes. Publisher's cyan cloth with titles in black and gilt to spines, and in black with the 'Strand' street scene to uppers. All edges speckled..... More
Michael Strogoff. A Courier of the Czar Alexander II.
New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1927. [Adventure Fiction] FIRST WYETH EDITION. Quarto (24 x 18cm), pp.viii; 397; [1], blank. With colour-illustrated title page and nine captioned colour plates. Publisher's black cloth, gilt titles to spine, colour plate laid down to upper, pictorial endpapers, top edge gilt, others untrimmed. Contents clean..... More
Salvage from the Cynthia.
London: Arco Publications, 1964. [Adventure] FIRST THUS. Octavo (21 x 14cm), pp.192. Publisher's brown cloth with gilt titles to spine. With the white and blue dust-jacket, originally priced at 12/6. Price-clipped jacket lightly toned to spine with a few marks. Near fine. A young man, rescued from a shipwreck as..... More
The Wonderful Travels. Containing 'Around the World in Eighty Days,' 'Five Weeks in a Balloon,' and 'A Journey into the Interior of the Earth.'
London: Ward, Lock, and Co., [n.d.] c.1900. [Adventure fiction] FIRST THUS. Octavo (20 x 14cm), pp.viii; 5-192; 7-268; 268. With three halftone frontispieces, the first one also with a tissue-guard. Publisher's green pictorial cloth, designs and gilt titles to upper and spine. Black endpapers. Interior lightly toned, thumbed, and creased..... More
Adrift in The Pacific.
London: Sampson Low, Marston & Company, 1893. [Castaway Adventure] EARLY CHEAP EDITION. Octavo (19 x 14cm), pp.151 [1]; 142. With engraved plates by Benett, including a frontispiece. Publisher's green cloth with gilt titles and black decoration to spine and upper. Yellow-coated endpapers. Black ink ownership to fly-leaf. Upper hinge split..... More
Clovis Dardentor. Les Voyages Extraordinaires, Couronnes par l'Académie Française.
Paris: Bibliothèque d'Éducation et de Récréation J. Hetzel et Cie., no date [1896]. [French Literature] FIRST SEPARATE EDITION. Quarto (28 x 19cm), pp.[4] 244 [8]. With 45 engravings after Benett, including six chromotypographic plates and a frontispiece. All text in French. Facsimile dedication to half-title. Publisher's red cloth with black..... More
The Chancellor [The Survivors of the Chancellor / The Wreck of The Chancellor].
London: Arco Publications, 1965. FIRST EDITION THUS, being part of the popular Arco uniform 'Fitzroy' series reissued in the 1960s, often featuring amended titles (as with the present volume). Crown octavo, pp.192. Publisher's cloth in a harrowing pictorial dust-jacket. Toning to page edges, some dustiness, spinea touch sunned... More
Homeward Bound. Part II of Hector Servadac.
London: Arco Publications, 1965. [Science Fiction Adventure] FIRST THUS. Octavo (21 x 14cm), pp.192. Publisher's brown cloth with gilt titles to spine. With the black and blue dust-jacket, originally priced at 12/6, and re-priced to £1.25 with a sticker. Gently toned throughout. Original price to back cover crossed out with..... More
Into the Abyss. Part II of Family Without a Name.
London: Arco Publications, 1963. [Historical Fiction] FIRST THUS. Octavo (21 x 14cm), pp.171 [1]. Publisher's brown cloth with gilt titles to spine. With the black and orange dust-jacket designed by William Langstaffe, priced at 12/6. Lightly toned to jacket spine. Near fine. The second part of the grand heroic tragedy..... More
The Mysterious Document. Part I of Captain Grant's Children. Including also the first part of On the Track.
London: Arco Publications, 1964. [Adventure] FIRST THUS. Octavo (21 x 14cm), pp.189 [3]. Publisher's brown cloth with gilt titles to spine. With the blue and black dust-jacket, originally priced at 12/6, and re-priced to £1.25 with a sticker. Jacket price-clipped, otherwise a lovely fine copy. A message found in a...... More
The Purchase Of The North Pole.
London: Arco Publications, 1966. [Science Fiction] FIRST THUS. Octavo (21 x 14cm), pp.176. Publisher's brown cloth with gilt titles to spine. With the pink and black dust-jacket, originally priced at 15s, and re-priced to £1.25 with a sticker. Gently toned throughout. Price-clipped jacket a little rubbed to edges and sunned..... More
The Steam House: The Demon of Cawnpore [and] Tigers and Traitors.
London: Arco Publications with Bernard Hanison, 1959. [Science Fiction Adventure] FIRST THUS. Complete in two volumes. Octavo (21 x 14cm), pp.[2] 170 [4]; pp.176. Each volume with an engraved frontispiece illustration from the original editions, and a publisher's catalogue request card loose to preliminaries. Publisher's brown cloth with gilt titles..... More
Texar the Southerner. Part II of North Against South.
London: Arco Publications, 1963. [French Literature] FIRST THUS. Octavo (21 x 14cm), pp.190 [2]. Publisher's brown cloth with gilt titles to spine. With the black and pink dust-jacket designed by Jozef Gross, priced at 12/6, and re-priced with a sticker to 15s. Just a hint of toning to jacket spine..... More
The Blockade Runners.
London: Sampson Low, Marston, Searle, and Rivington, 1876. [Historical Adventure] FIRST SEPARATE EDITION IN ENGLISH, second issue in hard covers. Octavo (19 x 13cm), pp.[4] 120 [16]. With 14 engraved plates by Férat and Hildibrand, and a frontispiece portrait of the author by Bertrand. Publisher's puce cloth with gilt titles..... More
Adventures in the Land of the Behemoth. [The Adventures of Three Englishmen and Three Russians in South Africa].
Boston, MA: Henry L. Shepard & Co., 1874. [African Adventure] SECOND US EDITION. Octavo (21 x 15cm), pp.[2] 190 [2]. With 20 wood engraved plates, including a frontispiece. Publisher's brown cloth with titles and decoration in gilt and black to spine and upper. Dark blue endpapers. Lightly browned throughout. Some..... More
The Tribulations of a Chinaman.
New York, NY: E.P. Dutton and Company, 1881 [1880]. [French Literature] FIRST FREWER EDITION. Octavo (19 x 15cm), pp.[2] viii; 262 [4]. With 49 engraved plates by Benett, including a frontispiece. Publisher's light blue cloth with gilt titles and black decoration to spine and upper. Some heavy creasing and a...... More
The Adventures of Three Englishmen and Three Russians in South Africa.
London: Sampson Low, Marston, Searle, & Rivington, 1876. [African Adventure] EARLY UK EDITION. Octavo (19 x 13cm), pp.191 [17]. With nine engraved plates, including a frontispiece, by Ferat. Publisher's puce cloth with gilt and black titles and decoration to spine and upper. All edges gilt. Repairs to starting hinges. Somewhat..... More
Hector Servadac.
London: Sampson Low, Marston, Searle & Rivington, 1882. [Science Fiction] THIRD ENGLISH EDITION, the 'Pears Soap' binding. Octavo (18 x 12cm), pp.iv; 370. With six wood engraved plates and a vignette title page. Publisher's red pictorial cloth, with titles and decoration in black and light blue to spine and upper..... More
The Giant Raft: Eight Hundred Leagues on the Amazon [and] The Cryptogram.
London: Sampson Low, Marston & Company, 1893 and 1894. [Amazon Adventure] VINTAGE COPY, a later edition complete in two volumes. Octavo (19 x 13cm), pp.[2] 244; pp.192. With a total of 11 engraved plates by Benett, including a frontispiece to each volume. Publisher's green cloth with gilt titles and black..... More
The Giant Raft: Eight Hundred Leagues on the Amazon [and] The Cryptogram.
New York, NY: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1886. [Amazon Adventure] VINTAGE COPY, an early edition. Octavo (21 x 15cm), pp.[2] xiv; 254 [4]. With a folding map and 79 engraved plates by Benett, including a frontispiece. Publisher's red cloth with gilt and black titles and decoration to spine, and black titles..... More
Floating Island, or, The Pearl of the Pacific.
London: Sampson Low, Marston & Company, no date [circa 1897]. [Science Fiction] EARLY EDITION. Octavo (19 x 13cm), pp.viii; 382 [2]. With 79 illustrated plates including a frontispiece by Benett. Recently re-cased in publisher's original green cloth with gilt titles and pink and blue decoration to spine and upper, with..... More
The Steam House: The Demon of Cawnpore [and] Tigers and Traitors.
London: Sampson, Low, Marston, Searle, & Rivington, 1883. [Science Fiction Adventure] SECOND UK EDITIONS. Complete in two volumes. Octavo (19 x 16cm), pp.viii; 262 [2]; pp.viii; 246 [2]. With a total of 98 engraved plates by Benett, including a frontispiece to each volume. Publisher's green cloth with gilt titles and..... More
The Child of the Cavern; or, Strange Doings Underground.
London: Sampson Low, Marston, Searle, & Rivington, 1883. [Strange Tale] THIRD UK EDITION. Octavo (19 x 15cm), pp.xii; 246. With 44 engraved illustrations, including a frontispiece, by Jules Férat and Charles Barbant. Publiisher's green cloth with gilt titles and black decoration to spine and upper. Yellow-coated endpapers. Bookseller's label and..... More
The Child of the Cavern; or, Strange Doings Underground.
London: Sampson Low, Marston, Searle, & Rivington, 1878. [Strange Tale] SECOND UK EDITION. Octavo (19 x 15cm), pp.xii; 246. With 44 engraved illustrations, including a tissue-guarded frontispiece, by Jules Férat and Charles Barbant. Publiisher's pale blue cloth with gilt titles and black decoration to spine and upper, coated cream endpapers..... More