Page last modified: October 16, 2021

First English "Synopsis/Review" of a Jules Verne Book - December 5, 1868, Vol. VI, No. 153, pp 717-721
Five Weeks in a Balloon - Every Saturday; A Journal of Choice Reading

The December 5, 1868 issue of the American, magazine, Every Saturday; A Journal of Choice Reading, Vol. VI, No. 153, pp 717-721, published by Fields, Osgood & Co., Boston, includes a synopsis, plus several passages, from the book Five Weeks in a Balloon.
Ed note: Every Saturday, Vol V, January to June 1868, the previous volume, was published by: Ticknor and Fields, Boston!

The Every Saturday magazine, has a 2nd subtitle, after "A Journal of Choice Reading", that reads:
"Selected from Foreign Current Literature". The source for text in this journal, is generally sourced from articles taken from other publications such as: The Pall Mall Gazette, The Spectator, All The Year Round, Chamber's Journal, The Graphic, Good Words, English Magazine, Cassell's Magazine, The Student, St. Pauls, etc.

The text for this particular review/synopsis is credited to The London by the Jules Verne Encyclopedia. Ads have been found for that London Issue. The below ad, is from The Daily News, London, Wednesday October 28, 1868, on Page 8.

You will notice that the ad indicates that the magazine will come out on Saturday,October 31, will cost Sixpence, is No. 1 of a New Series, and will be published Monthly. It also appears that the subheader for the magazine is: A First-Class Magazine.

The first 4 items in the list of contents are:

  1. Cupid Greybeard, A Story by Tom Hood.
  2. The Cotes du Nord. By a Five Years' Resident
  3. Some memories By Blanchard Jerrold
    (Ed note: Banchard is the Editor of Lloyd's Weekly Newpaper, as per the header, Nov 1, 1868).
  4. Five Weeks in a Balloon.
  5. .......

This ad, with the identical list of contents, appeared in:

  • The Daily News, London - Oct 28, 1868, Page 8 (indicates: "On Saturday October 31st")
  • The Pall Mall Gazette, London - Oct 28, 1868, Page 15 (indicates: "On Saturday, October 31st")
  • The Pall Mall Gazette, above repeated on October 30, 1868, Page 12
  • The Observer, London - Nov 1, 1868, Page 1 (indicates: "Now ready, Saturday Oct 31")
  • The Pall Mall Gazette, London - Nov 3, 1868, Page 16 (indicates: "Now Ready")
  • Lloyd's Weekly Newspaper, London - Nov 8, 1868, Page 4 (indicates: "Now ready")

You can also find ads for the publication of Every Saturday.
For example:

  • The Bedford Inquirer, Bedford, Pennsylvania - December 4, 1868, Page 3.
    It says: "Every Saturday for December 5th contains "He Knew He Was Right" by Anthony Trollope, "Eccentricities of Cooks", "Five Weeks in a Balloon."...Published by Fields, Osgood and Co. 124 Fremont Street, Boston."

The article is more like a synopsis, than a review, AND it is the FIRST KNOWN REFERENCE to a Jules Verne BOOK in the English language.
Ed Note: The Jules Verne short story Balloon Voyage was published in Philadelphia in 1852.

What makes the review interesting, is that the author of the review appears to believe that the book is FACT and not FICTION! He seems genuinely perturbed that the public had not heard about these explorations, that Jules Verne had set in 1862, until now, 1868.

Note: The reviewer also incorrectly identifies the author as M. Jules Berne

The article runs from page 715 to 721.

Below is an image of the beginning of the review, and following that, I give images of ALL the pages of the article.

The text of the beginning of the review is transcribed below:

The beginning of the article, is about 1/2 column on the bottom of page 717 of the magazine:

Ed: The beginning of the article is transcribed here, with the line breaks as they appear in the article,

and YES, the author of "Five Weeks" is referred to
as M. Jules Berne, and the title of the book being referred to is mentioned in a footnote as "Cinq Semaines en Ballon".

FIVE WEEKS IN A BALLOON.

I MUST begin by stating that I cannot guarantee
the authenticity of the following remarkable adven-
tures. I merely repeat them here, confiding in the
good faith of one M. Jules Berne.
* The French-
men, who, it is notorious, are much better up in
aeronautics than ourselves, modestly leave the mer-
it of the five weeks' balloon trip across Africa to the
English.
On January 15, 1862, then, so M. Berne tells us,
but we have not been able to verify the fact, the
following announcement appeared in the "Daily
Telegraph":-
"That enterprising traveller, Dr. Samuel Fer-
gusson, has formed the resolution of undertaking a
journey of discovery across Africa, from east to
west, but in a balloon. The starting-point of the
expedition will be the island of Zanzibar, on the
east coast. The plan of the journey was yesterday
officially approved by the Royal Geographical So-
ciety, which has made a grant of £250 towards it."
This announcement naturally produced a great
excitement. It was at first supposed to be all hum-
bug, but people gradually convinced themselves that
the untertaking was seriously meant.
Who is Dr. Fergusson?
He is the son of a captain in the English navy,
accustomed to the perils of sea voyages when quite
a boy. At the age of nineteen he joined the Engi-
neer corps of the Bengal Army, resigned his com-
mission at the end of three years,and travelled"

*"Cinq Semaines en Ballon"

Find here, the whole article, as digitally scanned by Google, from the University of Minnesota

Page 717 - 718 - 719

Page 720 - 721

- Andrew Nash -

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