Tours of the World Around the World in 80 Days... Lot 8

[Tours of the World] Around the World in 80 Days by Jules Verne. Illustrations by de Neuville and L. Benett. Paris, Bibliothèque d'Éducation et de Récréation, J. Hetzel et Cie, sd (ca 1877). Large single in-8°. Publisher's full cobalt blue percaline boards "au miroir". On the back, the title is "J. Verne/The world tour/in/80 days". Spine with four boxes + the title. The motif of the boxes is identical to the one of the cartonnages "with the bouquets of roses" and the "initials JV-JH". The label on the 2nd plate is identical to that of the 5th type "aux bouquets de roses" bindings, only the frame - more worked - differs. No mention of the binder (Charles Magnier). Blue endpapers. Printed by Gauthier-Villars. First illustrated edition. Covers and corners very slightly rubbed. Otherwise, a magnificent copy without any restoration. Perfect golds on the first board and on the spine. Philippe Jauzac knew of two copies of this simple "mirror" binding (cf. pp. 329-335) and both were in the Biblio- thèque de Nantes: Le Tour du Monde en 80 jours and De la Terre à la Lune. We, for our part, have never seen one of them, nor even heard of another one... The one we offer here is apparently the only one in private hands, and, above all, the only one that is in a colour other than red: this one is, therefore, cobalt blue! Let us recall that the seven volumes "au miroir" (six quadruples, see also lots n°119 and 120 in this sale, and one double), composing the complete works of Jules Verne and published by Hetzel around 1877, are all burgundy red! To say that this is a rarity would therefore be an understatement Once again, it is probably a unique copy, in this shade at least. At worst, for the most demanding collectors, there is a red and a blue one! If you have to choose, we prefer the blue one...