Verne's first big success is, according to the Publishers' Note, a satire on English travel books about Africa. Deadly on-ground obstructions are avoided by the ingenious use of balloon travel, although there are still savages, storms, volcanoes, mirages, and grasshoppers to contend with. The book, combining known science with Verne's own flights of imagination, was an immediate hit with the public. The Osgood edition contains 48 of the original illustrations, considerably scaled down in size through a heliotype process. Taves & Michaluk V0001. Myers 20.
