Jules Verne - Le Volcan d’Or [Rarissime cartonnage Hetzel «à un éléphant titre dans le cartouche»] - 1906

Rarest Hetzel binding “à un éléphant titre dans le cartouche” for Le Volcan d'Or. Known in only a few copies, this volume is one of the two rare cases, it seems, where Hetzel had the title replaced in the tailband by a title in the cartouche, either for economy or due to a lack of personalized percalines. Yet, distinguishing itself from these rare exceptions, the 1st cover features a title composed with a very fanciful font.

VERNE, JULES.
[Canada] Le Volcan d'or. Paris: Collection Hetzel, 1906.
Grand in-8° double [28 x 19 cm]. Publisher’s polychrome binding “à l’éléphant” in full red percaline by Engel.

Original grand in-8° edition illustrated of this posthumous Jules Verne novel (reworked before publication by his son Michel Verne). The plot transports the reader to the Klondike of the great Canadian gold rush, where two Canadian cousins inherit a concession in the Yukon before embarking on a perilous expedition toward a volcano of gold located on the shores of the Arctic Ocean.

George Roux’s illustration here is enriched with numerous authentic photographs of the landscapes of the Canadian Far North as well as 12 mounted punches in chromotypography (color) that are brilliant.

Magnificent copy preserved in its original binding “à l’éléphant and titled in the cartouche” with a spine featuring a lighthouse motif. Red percaline particularly bright, gold and colors of the front cover perfectly preserved, spine with the lighthouse motif fresh with its gilt and the blues of great brilliance, capitals and corners well sharpened. Some wear on the covers and on the spine. Bright gilt edges. Interior very clean, blue endpapers originally perfect with no cracking at the hinges, paper white with no major foxing.

A fine example of preservation for a very late Hetzel binding, very rare.