THE FLIGHT TO FRANCE by Verne, Jules - 1888

1888. Or The Memoirs of a Dragoon. A Tale of the Days of Dumouriez. With Numerous Illustrations. London: Sampson Low, Marston, Searle, & Rivington, 1888. One preliminary page undated ads (with this title the last added). Original green cloth pictorially decorated in black.

First British Edition, also the first hardbound and first illustrated edition in English, published the year after the French edition titled LE CHEMIN DE FRANCE. This tale takes place during the 1792 defense of France under General Dumouriez against the invading Prussians -- culminating in the "cannonade of Valmy." This was one of Verne's most anti-German tales (along with THE BEGUM'S FORTUNE); to quote from a contemporary British review (cited by T&M), This is a dangerous theme for a French writer, especially now, when the national feeling runs so high against all that is German... The writer delights to seek in the past a literary revenge for recent disasters, as it seems not to be likely to come in the immediate future... It somewhat mars our enjoyment to hear, so to speak, throughout the gnashing of teeth whenever anything German is mentioned... The actual first edition of this title in English was published in wrappers in Toronto, by October 1888; this Sampson Low edition was next, published the following month. In the same month, a wrappered American edition was published by Frank Lovell. This copy is in the secondary binding of green cloth decorated entirely in black (and thus lacks one of the best features of the primary binding, the gilt "streaks of rain" across the front cover scene). Condition is fine except for a cracked front endpaper. Taves & Michaluk V032; Myers 21.