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VERNE, JULES. 1828-1905. Autograph Manuscript Signed ("Jules Verne"), being the complete short story "Une fantaisie de docteur Ox," image 1
VERNE, JULES. 1828-1905. Autograph Manuscript Signed ("Jules Verne"), being the complete short story "Une fantaisie de docteur Ox," image 2
VERNE, JULES. 1828-1905. Autograph Manuscript Signed ("Jules Verne"), being the complete short story "Une fantaisie de docteur Ox," image 3
Lot 22

VERNE, JULES. 1828-1905.
Autograph Manuscript Signed ("Jules Verne"), being the complete short story "Une fantaisie de docteur Ox,"

9 March 2017, 13:00 EST
New York

Sold for US$112,500 inc. premium

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VERNE, JULES. 1828-1905.

Autograph Manuscript Signed ("Jules Verne"), being the complete short story "Une fantaisie de docteur Ox," 27 pp recto and verso, folio (310 x 200 mm), n.p., 1871, written in two columns, black ink along the left side of each page, with extensive corrections and emendations in red along the right half, minor soiling with minor wear along the edges, loose leaves, laid into half red morocco folding box, with clasps along fore-edge.
Provenance: Christie's New York, From the Frederick R. Koch Foundation, June 7, 1990.

VERY RARE MANUSCRIPT FROM JULES VERNE, THE FATHER OF SCIENCE FICTION. First published in 1872, "Une Fantasie de docteur Ox" tells the story of the mysterious Ox and his assistant Ygene, who offer to install a system of gas lighting in the sleepy Flanders town of Quiquendone. However, their plan is actually a secret experiment to see if they can pump more life into the sleepy town through an influx of oxygen gas through the lighting system. A humorous tale at it's heart, "Doctor Ox" also explores themes of morality and progress, while the idea of a secret experiment on an unsuspecting populace provides a sinister element that may particularly resonate today.
All Verne manuscripts are extremely rare, as he purposefully destroyed his papers before the end of his life, with only a few surviving. Indeed, in forty years of auction records, we locate only two manuscripts; this one, and that of Voyage au centre de la Terre in 1994.

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