L. W. Currey, Inc.

Le Faure, G[eorges] and H[enry] de Graffigny. AVENTURES EXTRAORDINAIRES D'UN SAVANT RUSSE [LA LUNE]... [with] AVENTURES EXTRAORDINAIRES D'UN SAVANT RUSSE: LE SOLEIL ET LES PETITES PLANETES. Paris: Edinger Editeur, 1889; 1889. Large octavo, two volumes: pp. [i-v] vi [vii] viii 1-490 [491-493] [494: blank] [495: printer's imprint] [496: blank]; [i-iv] [1] 2-537 [538: blank] [539: illustrated advertisement for part 3] [540: blank] [541: table of contents] [542: blank] [543: printer's imprint] [544: blank], over 900 illustrations by Vallet, Henroit and others, both volumes rebound in nineteenth-century three-quarter burgundy leather and lavender pebbled cloth. First editions. The first two of four volumes published between 1889 and 1896 comprising this epic novel of interplanetary exploration. LA LUNE (1889) was followed by LE SOLEIL ET LES PETITES PLANETES (1889), LES PLANETES GEANTES ET LES COMETES (1891) and LE DESERT SIDERAL (1896). "The story of a scientist who explores the universe while chasing his rival, who has stolen his ideas for a spaceship ... The novel had a definite influence on the genre. After publication of this novel, there was no question of limiting oneself to the Moon as had been done for so long; astronauts began to explore Mars and Venus, although none dared to escape from the solar system." - Survey of Science Fiction Literature I, pp. 109-112. According to Versins, the importance of this work is still underestimated owning to the difficulty of finding the later volumes, with the fourth, issued by another publisher, virtually unobtainable. Versins, Encyclopédie de l'Utopie, des Voyages Extraordinaires et de la Science Fiction, pp. 521-22. Leather scuffed, sound, very good copies. The Frederick I. Ordway III copy with his bookplate on each front free endpaper. (#170254).

Price: $1,000.00