The Clipper of the Clouds. [Robur the Conquerer].

VERNE, Jules [Gabriel] (1828-1905), [BENETT, Léon, illustrator].

London: Sampson Low, Marston, Searle, & Rivington, 1887 [1886]. [Science Fiction Adventure] FIRST UK EDITION. Octavo (19 x 15cm), pp.viii; 234 [32]. Publisher's catalogue dated October 1886. With 42 wood engraved plates by Benett, including a frontispiece. Publisher's blue cloth with gilt titles and black, brown and white decoration to spine and upper. All edges gilt; cream endpapers. Two plates tipped back in, with a little rubbing to edges. Some very minor occasional marks to leaves, and a gentle tobacco scent. Heavy rubbing to cloth, with some colour lost to both boards, and toning to spine. Very good. A thrilling tale of round the world air travel under the the wing of Robur the master engineer, all the more remarkable for the fact that it was written a good fourteen years before the Wright brothers first got their ideas off the ground. First published in French in 1886, and the rarest mid-period Verne in English. Item #57685

Price: £3,000.00