"The Mysterious Island": Containing "Dropped From The Clouds", "The Abandoned", "The Secret of the Island" by Jules Verne, with 9 illustrations by N.C. Wyeth. Published by Charles Scribner's Sons, New York, 1946; first edition, later printing; copyright 1920 with Scribner's seal.

Hard boards, original illustrated cloth [a little wear, rounded corners: see photos]; 7" x 9.3/4"; illustrated endpapers [creased between ep & boards]; 494 pages; a few b/w text illustrations, 9 color plates [all listed plates are present], a little soiling, very good condition.

Newell Convers Wyeth (1882-1945), known as N.C. Wyeth, was an American artist and illustrator. He was the star pupil of Howard Pyle and became one of America's greatest illustrators.

His first published work appeared on the cover of The Saturday Evening Post in 1903. In 1911, he painted a series of illustrations for an edition of the book, Treasure Island, by R.L. Stevenson. He also illustrated editions of The Yearling, The Whote Company, Robinson Crusoe, The Last of the Mohicans, Kidnapped (1937), and Robin Hood. During his lifetime, Wyeth created over 3,000 paintings and illustrated 112 books,25 of them for Scribner's, the work for which he is best known.

Wyeth was a realist painter just as the camera and photography began to compete with his craft. Sometimes seen as melodramatic, his illustrations were designed to be understood quickly. Wyeth who was both a painter and an illustrator, understood the difference, and said in 1908, "painting and illustration cannot be mixed–one cannot merge from one into the other."

"The Mysterious Island" by Jules Verne was first published by Hetzel in Paris in 1875. It contains a number of illustrations by Jules Ferat. The English translation was published by Harper the same year. The novel is a crossover sequel to Verne's famous Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas (1870) and In Search of the Castaways (1867-68), though its themes are vastly different from those books.

During the American Civil war, five men: Captain Cyrus Smith, an engineer; Gideon Spilett, a reporter; Pencroff a sailor; Herbert, a student; Nab a cook and Smith's dog Top escape the siege of Richmond, Virginia by balloon. The balloon was launched during a great storm; the wind from the storm blows the balloon and its six passengers on a 6,000 mile journey. They manage to make it to an island, which they determine is in the South Pacific Ocean. Everyone is accounted for except their natural leader Smith and his dog. The engineer and his dog are found under mysterious circumstances, but it is just the first of the island's many mysteries. Through the use of the engineer's vast knowledge, their wits, courage and the occasional help of an unknown force, the men begin to turn this island into their new home. When they complete a small boat, they are able to journey to a nearby island and add another member to their island's population. That man they eventually find out is named Ayrton, who was left on the nearby island for his involvement in the affair of the "Children of Captain Grant" (1868). The castaways survive an invasion by pirates, but their mysterious benefactor later reveals himself to them. Captain Nemo tells them his history and that they may not be able to survive the next attack. That next attack is from the island itself as the island's volcano has begun to stir from its hibernation...

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