VERNE, J., De la terre a la lune. Trajet direct en 97 heures et 20 minutes […] suivi de Autour de la lune […]. Les Voyages Extraordinaires. 41 Dessins et e Carte par De Montaut.

Beschrijving

Paris – Bibliothèque d'Education et de Récréation J. Hetzel et Cie. – [1875?] 169pp, many woodengraved illustrations in the text, a map of Florida, titlepage with engraved vignette showing the moon, name of previous owner in ink on titlepage ‘Jos Desmet’, foxed and soiled throughout.Half linen binding, marbled boards, some damage to spine, gilt title on spine. 26,5x 19 cm. Cf. Miller, The Dream Machines p. 53 ff.; Blueprint for Space p. 51 ff.; Nicolson, Voyages to the Moon p. 243 ff.; Bottin p.170.'[Verne was] the grandfather of astronautics. He correctly understood the operation of rockets in the vacuum of space and was the first to suggest their use. Verne chose a site for his launch in Florida that is only 137 miles from Cape Canaveral. This was no coincidence; Verne chose this site for at least one of the same reasons NASA did’