Will Eccentric by Verne, First Edition (5 results)

Hardcover. Condition: Very good. No jacket. Title page vignette, plates. (illustrator). First UK edition. First UK edition. 8vo. Original pictorial cloth. An adventure novel based on the board game 'The Game of the Goose'. "In 1897, the first Baedecker guidebook for the U.S. was published, and Verne used this as the source for his descriptions of the modes of transport, timetables, and geographic descriptions of the numerous places the twelve participants were required to visit in order to claim the prize." (Wikipedia) Previous owner's small ink stamp to title; cloth a little rubbed, but overall very good. Book.

Hardcover. Condition: Good. 1st Edition. The standard edition (there was also a deluxe extra-illustrated edition). viii; 408 pp. with a fold-out frontispiece "The Noble Game of the United States" and 19 plates. Bound in tan pictorial cloth. The spine darkened. Scattered foxing, heaviest on the preliminary and end leaves; stain on the top edge and top margins. Prior owner inscriptions on the verso of the front fly leaf and final leaf dated Jan. 1909. [Of-CL-S2].

FIRST ENGLISH EDITION, DELUXE ISSUE, 8vo, pp. viii, 408 + folding plan and 59 plates. Original green decorated cloth, edges gilt, green-printed endpapers. Three plates detached, these consequently a little soiled and nicked to edges. Cloth a little rubbed to extremities. The scarce first English edition of this late Verne adventure novel. The will of the title refers not to mental fortitude but a last will and testament; in the book an eccentric American has left his sixty million dollar fortune to the winner of an elaborate game, based on the Game of the Goose but played out across the continental United States. The folding plate depicts the game board, with each space depicting a different state or area. Verne took his information on the geography from the recently published Baedeker guide to the USA. This is the deluxe variant, with 59 plates, gilt edges and printed endpapers, it was also issued in the same year in a slightly plainer binding with 19 illustrations, in which form it was reissued two years later as a ?cheap edition? By this point in Verne?s career interest in the Anglophone world was waning and the print run of this version was relatively small; the eight or nine novels he wrote subsequently mostly went unpublished in English until long after his death. It also has never been published in the USA despite the setting of the action. Library Hub records 5 copies, at BL, NLS, Oxford, Cambridge and Edinburgh, but does not differentiate between variants.

Hardcover. Condition: Very Good+. 1st Edition. The Will of An Eccentric by Jules Verne First Edition Sampson Lowe 1900. London. Bookplate to front pastedown. No inscriptions, contents clean throughout. Fold out section still present and no loose or damaged pages. Original first state red covers are near fine. No rubbing to gilt and no toning to spine. "The Will of an Eccentric" is a novel by Jules Verne, first published in French in 1899. The story follows the journey of a group of characters who have been named in the will of the eccentric millionaire, William J. Hypperbone. Hypperbone's last will and testament contains a series of clues that the group must solve in order to inherit his vast fortune. As they embark on a treasure hunt across the globe, the characters encounter a range of challenges and obstacles, including hidden passages, secret codes, and dangerous adversaries. Along the way, they learn important lessons about greed, friendship, and the true meaning of wealth. The novel is a classic example of Verne's trademark adventure and imagination, with a twist of mystery and suspense thrown in.

First Edition. [Adventure] FIRST EDITION IN ENGLISH. Octavo (19 x 13cm), pp.viii; 408. With 59 wood engraved plates by Roux, and the folding plate of 'The Noble Game of the United States of America' on india paper to preliminaries. Publisher's green cloth with gilt titles and white, black, and orange decoration to spine and upper. All edges gilt; patterned green endpapers. Gently toned with a light tobacco scent; slightly cocked. Some light occasional marks to leaves, with a small marginal tear to p.1/2. Moderate rubbing to cloth. Four plates tipped back in; somewhat rubbed and chipped to edges. Very good. One of Verne's later novels, first published in French in 1899, and curiously never published in America, where it is set. In a re-hash of the 'impossibly vast inheritance' genre, an American leaves $60,000,000 to the winner of a huge Goose Game laid out over the whole continent of North America, the seven contestants being specifically named in his Will. Printed in low numbers due to the declining popularity of Verne at the time of publication, and consequently rare thus.