[Celestial Spaces] Hector Servadac by Jules Verne. Illustrations by P. Philippoteaux. Paris, Bibliothèque d'Éducation et de Récréation, J. Hetzel Éditeur, sd (ca 1877). Large double in-8°. Publisher's full burgundy percaline boards "with initials". Second board of Magnier type "d". Gilt edges. Blue-grey endpapers. Printed by Gauthier-Villars. Original illustrated edition and trial binding (probably) concomitant with the versions "aux deux éléphants", "au monde solaire" and "au miroir". Let's say that this binding is unknown to us, but the search for clues allowing its identification was quite exciting. It is most probably not a 1903 essay intended for Belgium, the spine not being with six boxes as it is always the case at that time, but very close to that of the "classic" double volumes of the "two elephants" type for example; the initials of Jules Verne appear on the first plate in the upper medallion, which differentiates it from the "initials, gilded without JV" of 1903; likewise, on the first plate, "Servadac" is inscribed in straight letters, whereas it is presented in a half-moon on the "initials, gilded without JV" version, and, finally, the burgundy red of the percaline is no longer used at this time... The inner quires are in first printing. To further support the hypothesis that this is an 1877 essay, a bookseller's label appears at the bottom of the first endpaper. It is "Léon Vanier/Libraire", without address. Léon Vanier, who was to become the publisher of Verlaine and Mallarmé - to name but a few - was first established at n°6 rue Hautefeuille, a stone's throw from Hetzel's sales counter on rue Jacob! In 1878 it moved to 19, quai Saint-Michel. If it was a Belgian volume from 1903, it is unlikely that it could have ended up at this famous French bookshop, for two reasons: Vanier died in 1896 and his widow gave up her stock in 1902. But, what we believe to be an even more decisive clue, is that the copy of L'Île mystérieuse personnalisée verte made in 1874, and which was sold by us in the 1st Kakou sale in 2009, also had a bookseller's label: that of... "Léon Vanier/Libraire/6 rue Hautefeuille"! We can therefore reasonably suppose that Vanier was supplied at Hetzel's counter where he bought, probably at reduced prices, the "non-standard" cartonnages, different from those usually sold... We therefore conclude that this is a test carried out in 1877, a pivotal year in which Hetzel designed an impressive number of cartoons, many of which were not to be followed up. We will therefore not speak of "rarity" about this volume, its "unknown" and probably even unique character perfectly illustrate its condition!