URANIE. Paris: C. Marpon et E. Flammarion Éditeurs, 1889. Large octavo, pp. [1-8] [1] 2-288, illustrated by de Bieler, Gambard and Myrbach, nineteenth-century brown pebbled morocco and marbled boards with original pictorial front wrapper preserved. First edition. "URANIE was surprisingly successful in the short term (although it was not reprinted as frequently as LUMEN) and its bestseller status caused three different translations to be made in the USA within a matter of months. Although advertised as a novel, it is actually a portmanteau piece, reminiscent of RÉCITS DE L'INFINI in more ways than one, comprising three pieces that were written separately. Taken as a whole, however, it is fiction of a kind very different from Vernian fiction; whereas Vernian fiction attempted -- or at least pretended -- to be realistic and based on firm scientific understanding, Flammarion's fiction was utterly unimpeded by practical considerations, far more interested in the farthest horizons of the scientific imagination than the nearer ones that seemed already to be within pragmatic reach." - Stableford, The Plurality of Imaginary Worlds: The Evolution of French Roman Scientifique, pp. 378-380. Anatomy of Wonder (2004) II-408. Bleiler, Science-Fiction: The Early Years 776. Locke, A Spectrum of Fantasy, p. 84. Bleiler (1978), p. 74. Reginald 05461. Stiff card signed by Flammarion tipped in on the front free endpaper. Leather rubbed, boards worn at edges, internally fine with tight inner hinges. An uncommon book. (#167016).
Price: $850.00
No statement of printing.