Seas and Oceans] A floating city / [Africa] Adventures of 3 Russians and 3 English by Jules Verne. Illustrations by Férat. Paris, Bibliothèque d'Éducation et de Récréation, J. Hetzel Éditeur, sd (ca 1875). Large double in-8°. Publisher's full red percaline boards with large grains "with the initials without JV". Title missing from the central label. Spine with five boxes, one of which with the author's name, dash, A floating city, dash, Forceurs de blocus, dash, 3 Russians and 3 English. No mention of a binder, but perhaps it is Magnier. Magnier second board type "c". Gilt edges. Blue endpapers. Printed by Gauthier-Villars. Top cover restored. Otherwise, a very nice copy of this trial binding, with a very pleasant coarse-grained percaline. Originally, this volume does not have a general masthead. We are tempted to qualify this volume as "rare", but this would be an understatement, considering that Jauzac had never seen it and only quoted it according to Bottin (p. 395) who stated that it was the only known copy! By the way, this volume has Bottin's signature in pencil on the second endpaper. Could it be his copy?... According to Jauzac, there is only one other title that was the subject of such a test: Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea. These two test cartoons should not be confused with the double volumes "with the initials JV-JH", also test cartoons, produced for Belgium in 1902. Let us finally underline that the small upper label "without JV" is different from the one of the definitive box "with the initials JV-JH" and corresponds to the test made by Magnier in 1875 for Le Tour du Monde en 80 jours (see lot n°64).