VERNE (Jules). - Lot 97

VERNE (Jules). The Castaways of the Jonathan. Illustrations by George Roux. Chromotype plates. Paris: Collection Hetzel, [1909]. — In-8, 272 x 172. Cardboard binding featuring a “fan and an elephant,” gilt edges (M. Engel). First and only illustrated large 8vo edition of this novel, published posthumously and revised by Michel Verne from an original manuscript by his father written in 1897–1898 under the title *En Magellanie*. In 1881, on the edge of Patagonia, on Hoste Island near Cape Horn, lived a mysterious white man known as Kaw-djer (“the benefactor” in the indigenous language). He is a staunch anarchist, a proponent of “Neither God nor Master,” who has left civilization to live in isolation among the Fuegian Indians, along with his adopted son Halg and the Indian Karroly. One day, the clipper Jonathan, carrying a thousand pioneers from Europe, North America, and Japan bound for Africa, ran aground on the island’s reefs. Kaw-djer attempted to rescue them but could not prevent the shipwreck. Most of the crew perished, but the settlers survived. A copy in the only known cardboard binding for this title, known as the “fan and elephant” design. Spine slightly faded; otherwise, the copy is in perfect condition. Foxing spots. Provenance: Robert Scipion, with auction label (March 24, 2005, lot 150).