This volume is an early French edition of Jules Verne’s classic novel Le Tour du Monde en Quatre-Vingts Jours (Around the World in Eighty Days). Published in Paris by J. Hetzel et Cie at 18, Rue Jacob, it forms part of the Bibliotheque d’Education et de Recreation and the Les Voyages Extraordinaires series. The work is profusely illustrated with engravings after drawings by MM. de Neuville and L. Benett. The title page includes the statement Couronnes par l’Academie. The book is bound in a contemporary mid-to-late 19th-century half-leather binding with a dark brown leather spine over textured boards. The spine is detailed with four raised bands and gilt-stamped lettering and decorative rules; the spine lettering identifies the title as La Tour du Monde. The volume contains two notable handwritten ownership inscriptions. The first, in purple ink on a preliminary leaf, identifies the owner as Charles E. Kidd at the Ecole polytechnique in Zurich, dated 1876. The second inscription, in black ink on the half-title page, gives the full name Charles Edward Kidd and the address Farnworth, near Widnes. A later pencil notation of 75p is present on a flyleaf. Charles Edward Kidd (1854-1925) was a British engineer who studied at the Zurich Polytechnic between 1874 and 1877, providing specific historical context for the acquisition of this volume.
Approx. 275 mm x 185 mm.
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