Jules Verne: An Exploratory Biography by Lottman, Herbert R - 1996

New York: St. Martin's Press, 1996. Stated First Edition. Hardcover. Very good/very good. Stated First Edition. Hardcover. Stated First Edition with full number line indicating first printing. 9 1/2" X 6 1/4". xiv, 366pp. Very mild shelf wear to unclipped dust jacket with light creasing and wear to edges and light rubbing to covers. White paper over boards with spine backed in black and lettered in gilt. Light bumping to corners and edges of boards and top and bottom of spine. Pages are clean and unmarked. Binding is firm and sound.

ABOUT THIS BOOK:
Here Jules Verne, the pioneer of the science fiction genre and the uncannily accurate forecaster of twentieth-century invention, is revealed in an entirely new light. Lottman explores the dark, private side of the visionary who created some of the most imaginative tales of space, sea, and air travel ever written. Verne viewed the future with a mixture of awe and dread. He predicted a world filled with both technological achievements and monstrosities: cars, fax machines, computers, and the electric chair. Verne simultaneously marveled at the inventions and despaired at what drove people to create them. It is this elusive, disillusioned aspect of Verne that is captured here. This is the most complete picture of Jules Verne yet: his work, family, hidden cynicism and dark passions.(Publisher).