Celestial spaces] From the Earth to the Moon / Around the Moon by Jules Verne. Illustrations by de Montaut (From the Earth to the Moon) and Émile Bayard and A. de Neuville (Around the Moon). Paris, Bibliothèque d'Éducation et de Récréation, J. Hetzel et Cie, sd (inner books around 1875). Large double in-8°. Special full red percaline boards. No mention of the binder. Edges gilt. White endpapers spotted with blue. Original hinges in red percaline. Printed by Gauthier-Villars. A few discreet wet spots on the first board and on the spine. Otherwise, a very nice copy with a splendid gutter. This is an unknown binding, which we assume to be Belgian (the endpapers and the percaline hinges are typical of northern countries, Scandinavia and Germany), which was designed - at least for the spine - according to the usual graphic design of the binders working for Hetzel. Although the spine's irons and typefaces are highly ornate and different, the composition is nonetheless rigorously faithful to Hetzel's cartonnages of this period: Jules Verne/ Voyages extraordinaires in the second box from the top, and the titles in the fourth. In fact, only the composition of the first plate is unusual. Very ornate, with, among other decorations, cold and gilt frames, it was the result of a substantial work by the bookbinder and the gilder. Perhaps this was a trial run in Belgium before the "fleur-de-lis" cartonnage? The period suggests it, but nothing allows - obviously - to affirm it... In any case, here is a beautiful and authentic curiosity whose rarity is not to be demonstrated!