L'Ile Mysterieuse ("Voyages Extraordinaires")

Paris: Pierre-Jules Hetzel, 1885. Decorative Cloth. Very Good +. Jules Ferat. Very early edition, circa 1885, published by Pierre-Jules Hetzel out of Paris and including the 154 illustrations (engravings) by Jules Ferat, which nicely complement Jules Verne's text. Remarkably bright along the front panel, whose breathtaking gilt-decoration and titling sets the tone for a rich world of fantasy-to-come. Tight, solid and very VG+, with all edges gilt. Light fading and rubbing to the spine, mild spotting at the preliminaries and, to a lesser extent, through the text. Thick, dense quarto, transporting the reader back to the American Civil War and beyond.