Jules Verne - L’île Mystérieuse/Les enfants du capitaine Grant - 1880

JULES VERNE. — SET OF 2 LARGE VOLUMES HETZEL UNIFORM BINDING IN HALF-RED MOROCCO. The Mysterious Island [and] The Children of Captain Grant. Paris: J. Hetzel & Co., [c. 1875–1880]. 2 volumes, large octavo. Period half-red morocco binding, spine with raised bands ornamented with gold fleurons, gilt edges.

A uniform, period binding of two of the most emblematic and expansive novels of the Voyages Extraordinaires cycle, forming the famous maritime diptych/triptych tied to Captain Nemo and the Nautilus submarine.

The Original Illustrations by Hetzel’s Master Ilustrators:
* The Mysterious Island is magnificently illustrated by Jules Férat, depicting the airship wreck survivors’ epic (Cyrus Smith, Gédéon Spilett, Harbert, Nab and Pencroff) on Lincoln Island.
* The Children of Captain Grant gathers the iconic sequence of 172 engravings by Édouard Riou, recounting the voyage around the world along the 37th parallel in the southern hemisphere aboard the Duncan.

Magnificent display on a shelf, bindings from the period are extremely sturdy and bright. The red morocco on the spines is vividly red, the raised bands are pronounced, and the gold fleuron ornaments are very reflective. Board faces clean. Interior: laid paper / edition with occasional but evenly distributed foxing typical of Hetzel prints from the 1870s–1880s; woodblock prints are clean. A few leaves show slight fraying. Half-title pages intact.

In the 19th century, the great merchants and nobles often had their Hetzel volumes bound in their own arms or in their preferred leather! Having The Mysterious Island and The Children of Captain Grant bound in the same half-red, fleur-de-lis morocco was a sign of a château library or a grand private cabinet. These customized bindings offered far greater durability than publisher’s cloth and allowed Jules Verne’s masterpieces to sit proudly among the great classics of world literature.