Nord contre Sud

Name: Nord contre Sud
SKU: 29101
Author: Jules Verne

Paris, Hetzel, Bibliothèque d'Éducation et de Récréation, 1887.

1 vol. (185 x 285 mm) of 416 p. and 7 p. of catalogue. Publisher's full azure-blue percaline boards “aux deux éléphants” with type “e” Lenègre back cover, gilt edges, blue paper endleaves, undated “DS” catalogue [1887] for the works of the Magasin d'Éducation et de Récréation (Lenègre, binder).

First edition. Illustrations by Benett, in a rare blue binding: “aux deux éléphants” and first printing; this binding also exists in red and green versions — the latter two considerably rarer than the common red version.

The novel first appeared in serial form in the Magasin d’éducation et de récréation from January 1 to December 1, 1887, then in book form from November 17 of the same year, published by Hetzel.

The story is set in the United States in 1862, during the Civil War, which would end with the surrender of the Confederate general Lee to the Union general Grant in 1865. Florida, annexed to the American federation in 1819, had declared its independence some years later, and it is against this backdrop that the events narrated here unfold, centered on a vast plantation, “Camdless-Bay,” owned by James Burbank, where numerous Black workers labor freely after Burbank had freed them from slavery. His secessionist neighbors wage a bitter internal war against him, and it is this conflict that Jules Verne — an abolitionist and Unionist — recounts, ranging from the plains of Florida to the Everglades, those unhealthy marshes so difficult to navigate. For Verne, this marks a return to the historical novel after several other works.

Scattered foxing, otherwise a very fine copy in a magnificent, brilliantly colored publisher’s binding.

#29101

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