91 - VERNE (Jules). Autograph letter signed “Jules Verne” to a child. Paris, November 8, 1866. One page, 8vo, mounted under glass.

VERNE (Jules). Autograph letter signed “Jules Verne” to a child. Paris, November 8, 1866. One page, 8vo, mounted under glass. “MY DEAR CHILD (may I call you that!), I have been informed of the letter you sent to Mr. Hetzel. He asks me to thank you on his behalf, and I do so on my own behalf for the kind words you have written to me. DO NOT WORRY ABOUT THE FATE OF ARDAN AND BARBICANE; THEY WILL RETURN TO EARTH AT THE END OF NEXT YEAR, and it will be the easiest thing in the world. But we must give them time to see, and me time to figure out what they will have seen. UNTIL THEN, FOLLOW CAPTAIN GRANT’S CHILDREN, and keep your fingers crossed that they’ll find their father. I’ll admit that I have no idea at all whether they’ll succeed. On that note, my dear child, I offer you a firm handshake and ask you to believe that I am your true friend...” Jules Verne published his novel *From the Earth to the Moon* in 1865 with Pierre-Jules Hetzel: his two heroes, Michel Ardan and Impey Barbicane, propelled toward the moon in their shell, do not return safely to Earth until the following year in the story, in a sequel published in 1869 in the novel *Around the Moon*. His novel *The Children of Captain Grant* first appeared in the magazine *Le Magasin d’éducation* from December 1865 to December 1867, published by the same Hetzel who also released the original edition in three volumes published from May 1867 to January 1868.