Jules Verne - Sans Dessus Dessous - 1889

VERNE, Jules
Sans dessus dessous
Paris, Collection Hetzel, Bibliothèque d'Éducation et de Récréation, J. Hetzel et Cie, 18, rue Jacob, n.d. [1889]. First edition, large octavo format.

Publisher's binding known as the “initials” binding, in original full red percale cloth. Upper cover decorated with a large black-and-gilt frame in a framing motif, centered with three medallions: the upper medallion bearing the initials JV (Jules Verne), the central medallion titled in gilt lettering “Jules Verne / Sans dessus dessous / Illustré,” and the lower medallion bearing the initials JH (Jules Hetzel). Spine decorated with gilt panels, gilt edges. Original plain gray-blue endpapers.

In good condition, with the usual oxidation of the gilt on this binding. Wear to corners and spine ends from use. Endpapers intact. Superb gilt fore-edge.

Illustrated with 36 original drawings by George Roux, both full-page and in the text, engraved on wood.

First edition of a great classic of the Extraordinary Voyages, preserved in one of the most emblematic late-19th-century Hetzel publisher's bindings: the “initials” style, featuring interlaced monograms of the author JV and his legendary publisher JH.

A showcase for Jules Verne's visionary scientific novel, this volume, illustrated by George Roux, recounts an attempt on a titanic scale by members of the Baltimore Gun Club to alter the inclination of the Earth's axis with the aid of a monstrous cannon, in order to melt the Arctic ice cap and exploit its coal deposits. The exceptional freshness of the red cloth and the crispness of the gilt tooling on the medallions make this a choice copy for Hetzel collectors.

To ensure the scientific plausibility of his wild scheme to “straighten the Earth's axis,” Jules Verne enlisted a real mining engineer from Nantes, Albert Badoureau. He calculated to the nearest millimeter the theoretical energy required and the dimensions of the gigantic artillery piece to be cast into the ground (a cannon 27 meters in diameter, loaded with melinite). Badoureau wrote the novel's entire mathematical chapter (Chapter XIX), packed with real equations. As early as 1889, this was one of the first speculative novels to raise the ethical question of the impact of human and industrial activity on the planet's climate.