It hinges upon the extraordinary adventures of a mad French inventor who has imagined a diabolical engine of war that in its explosive effects surpasses anything in this direction conceived by mortal man... It has an added and highly piquant interest from the fact that Turpin, the celebrated and excitable inventor, declares that he has been libelled in the person of the mad hero of FACING THE FLAG, and is bringing action against Jules Verne... Turpin is the chemist who claimed that he discovered melinite (the explosive now used for shells in the French army and navy). [from a contemporary promotional piece cited in T&M]

This copy is in bright rose red cloth; we have also had copies in an olive brown cloth. This is a remarkably bright copy, with none of the usual fading of the red cloth (other copies we have had have been closer to pink); condition is fine except that the volume is slightly askew and there is a bit of foxing on a few leaves. The only copies in this condition that we have had before were olive-brown ones. Taves & Michaluk V044; Myers 24.