Measuring a Meridian

One of Verne's lesser-traveled titles — originally published in French in 1872 as Les Aventures de trois Russes et de trois Anglais, the story follows six scientists, three British and three Russian, surveying a meridian arc across the Kalahari Desert when the Crimean War breaks out and makes them political enemies. It's quieter than the flagship Verne novels and more interested in geodesy than gunfire, which makes it genuinely unusual in his catalog.

This is the 1964 Arco Publications "Fitzroy Edition," edited by I.O. Evans — the British series that made many of Verne's obscure works available in English for the first time or in newly edited translations. Bold green and black pictorial dust jacket intact and bright. A clean, tight copy with no prior owner marks. For Verne completists and anyone drawn to Victorian science-as-adventure. An excellent edition and condition.