Voyage dans la Lune

1895. DE VILLE D'AVRAY, A. Voyage dans la Lune avant 1900. [2], 50 ff., all colour lithographs. Oblong folio, 270 x 215 mm., bound in original publisher's red cloth, upper cover stamped in gilt. Paris: Librairie Furne, Jouvet & Cie., Editeurs, [ca. 1890s]. Only edition of this extraordinary children's book, executed entirely in colour lithography by Hérold & Cie., 131 Blvd. St. Michel, Paris, after original designs by the author, about whom nothing is known. In the 'Préface' he states that he composed the work for his children "sheet by sheet during the long evenings of winter." This work is evidently of the greatest rarity and is not listed in any bibliography or library catalogue consulted by us. There are several interesting parallels between the present work and the famous film of the same name by Georges Méliès (1902), a fourteen-minute masterpiece based on Jules Verne's De la Terre a la lune and Autour de la lune. Among the similarities are the references to the French learned society, the smiling face of the moon, the desolate lunar surface, the Earth's surface in the background, volcanic explosions, a lunar grotto, lunar mushrooms, using an umbrella to repel moon inhabitants, etc. However, there are many significant differences between the works, namely the vehicle of transport used here is a balloon (as opposed to a rocket), and in the present volume there is a profusion of surreal, monstrous characters throughout. At one point the two protagonists, MM. Baboulifiche and his servant Papavoine, are taken by gigantic bats to Saturn, where they die several deaths (including being eaten by ants and flying lizards). The story turns out to be the product of fantasy: in the end M. Baboulifiche wakes up -- it was all a horrible dream. Another inspiration for this work might have been the "Opéra-féerie" in four acts by Albert Vanloo, E. Leterrier and Arnold Mortier, with music by Offenbach, which was staged 248 times between 1875 and 1877. A fantastic and intriguing volume, preserved in extremely fresh state with just occasional marginal spotting.