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]

The publisher Neely copyrighted this tale in December 1896, and then beginning in January 1897 published it in several unillustrated formats of varying price. The primary binding, quite uncommon, is light green cloth with crossed flags on the front cover; two of the secondary bindings are a plain red binding and this one with a "bull's-eye" on the front cover and a flag-shield on the spine (which Neely also used for some non-Verne books). Sampson Low's illustrated British edition, titled FOR THE FLAG, was not published until October of the same year.

This is a near-fine copy, slightly darkened on the spineand with a trace of wear at the spine ends. Taves & Michaluk V044; Myers 24.