Jules Verne - [Rarissime première édition in-18] Le volcan d’or - 1906

VERNE, Jules.
The Volcano of Gold.
Paris: J. Hetzel et Cie, [1906].
Two pocket-size volumes, original illustrated covers by George Roux (Hetzel Collection, 18 rue Jacob).

Exceptional and rare original posthumous edition in the first publication of one of Jules Verne’s most captivating novels, issued in the famous Extraordinary Voyages collection. The work is richly illustrated with superb plates hors-texte by George Roux. Copy preserved in its extremely rare original printed covers. Interior in very good condition, illustrated with scenes of the Klondike gold rush.

Written by Jules Verne at the turn of the century (around 1899), The Volcano of Gold immerses readers in the harsh and fascinating atmosphere of the Klondike gold rush in Canada. The story follows two cousins, Ben Raddle and Summy Skler, heirs to a gold concession in Alaska, who undertake a perilous expedition to seize a fabulous vein located in the heart of an dormant volcano.

This novel has a notably tumultuous editorial history. Originally, the manuscript by Jules Verne presented a rather dark view of human folly in the face of greed, and the plot ended with the cataclysmic eruption of the volcano that swallowed all the gold amassed.

After the author's death in 1905, his son Michel Verne took up the text to publish it serialized and then in volume at Hetzel in 1906. Michel engaged in substantial revisions: he altered the ending to offer a happier conclusion, inserted more modern technological elements (such as a giant lightning rod and an electrical device), and intensified the secondary, particularly romantic, intrigues. It was not until the end of the 20th century that the original, complete Jules Verne text was finally restored and published, thus revealing the authentic version intended by the writer before his son’s rewriting.