ALS in French, signed "Jules Verne," one page, 4 x 5.25, February 23, 1904. Handwritten letter to a gentleman, desirably naming three of his novels. In full: "Being very ill, I have not been able to answer your letter, and I can only do so briefly as my sight is very bad. Five Weeks in a Balloon [Cinq semaines en ballon] dates from 1863, my first novel…Regarding the discrepancy in dates between Twenty-Thousand Leagues Under the Seas [Vint mille lieues sous la mers] and The Mysterious Island [L'Ile mystérieuse], I have reason to believe that it is an error." In fine condition.
Verne writes from the town of Amiens, where he had been elected town councilor in 1888. He makes note of his illness—he suffered from chronic diabetes, and would die from complications of the disease the next year—and comments on three of his novels. Verne's letters mentioning his works are scarce, and this one is exceptionally desirable: he refers to his first novel, Five Weeks in a Balloon, as well as one of his most famous adventure stories, Twenty-Thousand Leagues Under the Sea.
Past sales history: Profiles in History, December 16, 2014.
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