CAPTAIN ANTIFER by Verne, Jules - 1895

1895. With Illustrations. New York: R.F. Fenno & Company, n.d. [1895]. Original olive green cloth pictorially decorated in black and silver.

First American Edition in cloth of this tale of buried treasure, described as follows in a contemporary review (cited in T&M): Captain Antifer's father had befriended an Egyptian prisoner at Jaff [Jaffa], Kamylk Pasha, and many years after he received a mysterious document naming latitude 24 degrees 59 minutes north, and saying that the longitude would follow later. It never did; but Antifer succeeded in discovering it, and had a series of most exciting adventures in searching for the wealth which was to be found on the spot indicated. Antifer's efforts to find the islet's longitude, complicated by treachery and demands of marriage, take him to the Gulf of Oman, the Gulf of Guinea, and even north of Norway. After serialization in Boy's Own, Fenno published a wrappered version of this tale in June 1895, the first edition in the English language; both Fenno and, in England, Sampson Low, then published clothbound editions in November of that year -- precedence uncertain. This Fenno volume has a binding design very much like those of the American trade binding artist Margaret Armstrong, and is profusely illustrated. This copy is in fine condition (Christmas 1895 inscription). Taves & Michaluk V042; Myers 6.