The Master of the World by Jules Verne first British edition 1914

VERNE, Jules (1828-1905). The Master of the World. A Tale of Mystery and Marvel. London: Sampson Low, Marston and Co., Ltd., [1914].

First British edition. Octavo, 317 pp. With 30 inserted plates by George Roux, including the frontispiece, all present. Original green cloth, the front board and spine decorated in colours, spine lettered in gilt. Light rubbing to the corners and upper right of the front board, with scattered minor rubbing to the pictorial decoration; a patch of sun fading to the lower spine. Light browning and foxing to the preliminary leaves, otherwise clean internally. A very good or better copy.

One of Verne's last novels, first published in French as Maitre du monde in 1904, and a sequel to Robur the Conqueror, published in Britain as The Clipper of the Clouds. Set in the United States, it follows a federal inspector's pursuit of a mysterious inventor whose extraordinary machine, the "Terrible", can travel on land, through the air, and both above and beneath the water. A darker treatment of scientific ambition and unchecked power, illustrated with Roux's dramatic depictions of the machine and its exploits.