The Lottery Ticket and hat pins?

[g kinney]

Hi experts

In my days of collecting Verne I was told and I observed that US first edition copies of The Lottery Ticket had been stabbed in the spine with a pin. The copy on my shelf has several holes in the spine and I've had two other copies of the same edition with holes. One would think that these were due to insect damage but that's less likely in the spine and the holes terminate in tears in the page that don't look like they were caused by insects. The story I was told was that Verne  annoyed some group of people with either that book or in general and the result was that people went to bookstores and deliberately damaged that book in particular.

Is this true? Is this documented somewhere? My Google-fu fails me here so I  turn to you!

Thanks!

Greg Kinney

[mken...@aol.com]

Hi Greg,

It's possible that those copies are overstock copies. Publishers often use some kind of marking on them:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Remaindered_book

"Copies of remaindered books may be marked by the publisher, distributor, or bookseller to prevent them from being returned."

Sellers can possibly get a refund on returned books. Without the markings, they could return the books and get the full (original) purchase price back, even if they bought the (remaindered) books at a lower price.

I hope my English is good enough to describe this accurately :)

Well, I have to admit that I don't know if those markings are a relatively new idea or if it was done as early as in the 19th century.

Greetings

Matthias

[RFOG]

In Spain, since ages (or more accurately, ages ago because today it is difficult to find saldo books, they prefer to destroy them), saldo books and magazines had a cut corner or a red round stamp in one corner, or both. 

Sometimes cut is done in the entire width, some others it is done only in cover, or first pages. 

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[pj moe]

Hi everyone

- speaking about this particular, US first edition, can anyone clarify …

#1  The translation is by Laura E. Kendall, right? 

#2  Is it’s text identical to the one on Project Gutenberg?

[https://www.gutenberg.org/files/13527/13527-h/13527-h.htm]

#3  Other translations of Un Billet de loterie. Le numéro 9672 into English? 
- did all the UK & US editions print the same text/ the Kendall translation? 
[Sampson Low/George Munro/M.A.Donahue  etc.]

It so happens that, these days I am in fact comparing various  translations (languages) of this very Verne –novel.

Close reading, and comparing Kendall’s version with the author’s original in French, reveals deviations both stylistic and regarding content. Passages are omitted, textual elements are added, and names and other details slightly changed. 

Best, Per Johan
www.jules-verne.no/english

[mken...@aol.com]

Hi Per Johan,

There seems to be a second translation into English, reprinted by Wildside Press:

"Ticket No. 9672 (1886, New York: Munro, trans. Laura E. Kendall) “What time is it?" inquired Dame Hansen, shaking the ashes from her pipe, the fast curling rings from which were slowly disappearing between the stained rafters overhead.

The Lottery Ticket (1886, London: Sampson Low, trans.?) - reprint: Holicong, PA: Wildside Press, 2003.

“What time is it?” asked Dame Hansen, as she knocked the ashes out of her pipe while the last few whiffs floated off against the painted beams of the ceiling."

See here: http://www.julesverne.ca/jv.gilead.org.il/evans/VerneTrans(biblio).html

I don't have it, so I don't know if it's good. Maybe someone else could comment on the quality of that translation? Judging (only) from the quoted (first) sentence, the second translation seems to be better:

« Quelle heure est-il ? demanda dame Hansen, après avoir secoué les cendres de sa pipe, dont les dernières bouffées se perdirent entre les poutres coloriées du plafond.

https://fr.wikisource.org/wiki/Un_billet_de_loterie/I

"painted beams" is correct as far as I can tell. I don't think that Kendall's "stained rafters" is correct.

In German:

„Wie viel Uhr ist es?“, fragte Frau Hansen, nachdem sie die Asche aus ihrer Pfeife geklopft hatte, deren letzte Rauchwölkchen sich zwischen den bunt angestrichenen Deckenbalken verloren.

From my own translation of the novel, partly based on older German translations that are in the public domain. https://www.thalia.de/shop/home/artikeldetails/ID47938663.html

Do you know German? I can send you my translation for free if you say pretty pretty pretty please :)

The following is from the Hartleben version:

»Wie viel Uhr ist es? fragte Frau Hansen, nachdem sie die Asche aus ihrer Pfeife geschüttelt, deren letzte Rauchwölkchen sich zwischen den buntfarbigen Deckenbalken verloren.

http://www.zeno.org/Literatur/M/Verne,+Jules/Romane/Ein+Lotterie-Loos/1.+Capitel

Greetings

Matthias

[an...@julesverne.ca]

Art Evans lists 2 English translations in:

http://www.julesverne.ca/jv.gilead.org.il/evans/VerneTrans(biblio).html

... Andrew

Get Outlook for Android

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From: 'mken...@aol.com' via Jules Verne Forum <jules-ve...@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Thursday, February 25, 2021 2:04:13 PM
To: Jules Verne Forum <jules-ve...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Re: [JVF] Re: The Lottery Ticket and hat pins?

 

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/jules-verne-forum/2c3652b9-a491-4c2a-8620-5284c88b8eedn%40googlegroups.com.

[mken...@aol.com]

Thanks, but if you look closely at my post, you'll probably find that very same link ;)

[Jan Rychlik]

Dear Johan,

I am very much interested in the output of your research, in particular in identification of wrongly translated parts. 

There is only one translation to Czech of this novel published in 1908. The translator was teacher of French and author of textbooks, who made some mistakes beyond comprehension in his translations of this novel and in Le Maître du Monde as well. So I would like to compare your findings with his translation of the Ticket.

Best

Jan

25. 2. 2021 v 16:55, 'pj moe' via Jules Verne Forum <jules-ve...@googlegroups.com>:



To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/jules-verne-forum/eb35d8c0-78a7-497e-a7de-0539c6e96447n%40googlegroups.com.

[pj moe]

Dear forum friends

Thanks for these comments regarding editions and translations of 'Le no.9672' 

- I'd really like to read your translation, Matthias - I do read German :-)

- and Jan, we can get back to details regarding the imperfections of the Kendall translation soon,  in a new discussion here on the Forum.

The initial entry in this Forum string, relates, as I understand, to a hard bound edition?: 

"US first edition copies of The Lottery Ticket had been stabbed in the spine with a pin"

Without seeing it, my guess is: M.A. Donahue, Chicago "Ticket No. 9672

- as depicted on Andrew's valuable JV webpages

[Andrew Nash: julesverne.ca/vernebooks/jules-verne_lottery-ticket.html]. 

Art's extensive overview over translations, as you mention

[Arthur B. Evans: "A Bibliography of Jules Verne’s English Translations"]  

- I am aware, has two editions on the list: 

1886, New York: George Munro, trans. Laura E. Kendall

1886, London: Sampson Low, trans.? [Unknown]

The first of the two, I gather is the softbound edition? as described on Andrew's above mentioned webpage, on  julesverne.ca

(or do I misunderstand your overview, Andrew?)

So, then, is the text in the Donahue edition also the Kendall translation? 

And what about the 'Stein, 1912  25 cent' edition, mentioned in the JV Encyclopedia?  (Taves/Michaluk, 1996 p.171)

- Per Johan

[g kinney]

Yes, Donahue, 1886, Kendall translation.  It doesn't look like a typical set of remainder (sp) marks as I've had other copies of this edition and the stab holes are in different locations, on had a single hole and the other had multiple holes but less than this one. Any more ideas?
Thanks!
g

[James Keeline]

The M.A. Donohue editions circa 1915-1919 of several Jules Verne titles are reprints of texts from the Munro Seaside Library.  There may be some errors and edits compared with the original dime novel format as can creep in to any transcription where the spell check is dependent on the eyes, mind, and time of mechanical printing methods.

The Seaside Library was a softcover periodical or thick paperback format.  Here is an example.

The Donohue edition, decades later, is probably the first U.S. hardcover.  British hardcovers of this and some other titles in this format would be earlier on average but not the Sampson Low copy on HathiTrust that was scanned and appropriated by Wildside.

The copy of the Sampson Low edition which was the basis of the reprint by Wildside is not attributed to a particular translator but the different rendition of the first paragraph suggests that it is a different translator.

Some of the translations published by Sampson Low were first published in English in the British story paper called the Boys' Own Paper and collected into volumes in the Boys' Own Annual to be sold for the Christmas trade.  Several contemporaries of this title were so issued, but not this one so far as I can determine.  I do not know of a British English-language periodical version of this story though one may exist.

James D. Keeline

On Thursday, February 25, 2021, 01:57:01 PM PST, g kinney <mycot...@gmail.com> wrote:

Yes, Donahue, 1886, Kendall translation.  It doesn't look like a typical set of remainder (sp) marks as I've had other copies of this edition and the stab holes are in different locations, on had a single hole and the other had multiple holes but less than this one. Any more ideas?
Thanks!
g

On Thursday, February 25, 2021 at 2:41:59 PM UTC-7 p...@hbv.no wrote:

Dear forum friends

Thanks for these comments regarding editions and translations of 'Le no.9672' 

- I'd really like to read your translation, Matthias - I do read German :-)

- and Jan, we can get back to details regarding the imperfections of the Kendall translation soon,  in a new discussion here on the Forum.

The initial entry in this Forum string, relates, as I understand, to a hard bound edition?: 

"US first edition copies of The Lottery Ticket had been stabbed in the spine with a pin"

Without seeing it, my guess is: M.A. Donahue, Chicago "Ticket No. 9672

- as depicted on Andrew's valuable JV webpages

[Andrew Nash: julesverne.ca/vernebooks/jules-verne_lottery-ticket.html]. 

25. 2. 2021 v 16:55, 'pj moe' via Jules Verne Forum <jules-ve...@googlegroups.com>:



[James Keeline]

Wildside likely lifted their Sampson Low translation from this electronic edition:

https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=wu.89006931364&view=2up&seq=6

Since I have an affiliate account with HathiTrust via my Library of Congress card, I have downloaded this Sampson Low edition as a PDF.  The full size is 70 MB but a copy optimized with Adobe Acrobat Pro DC is 46 MB.  Here is the first page (cropped):

_____

The Munro (Seaside Library) text of 1886 was reissued by M.A. Donohue around 1901 or later as Ticket No. 9672.  This is the basis for the Gutenberg edition:

https://archive.org/details/ticketnoquot967213527gut

I have a physical copy of the M.A. Donohue edition as seen here:

https://www.librarything.com/work/1899725/details/64512612

As I recall, there are no illustrations inside of this cheap (but scarce) reprint edition.  Many sellers see only the 1886 date and think that is when this Donohue reprint was published.  While I agree that it may be the first U.S. hardcover, it was not printed in 1886.  At least a couple bidders in 2010 really wanted this copy.  It is not clear from the listing whether it was an early printing with gold lettering on the spine or a later one with painted lettering.

In 1900 the company was known as Donohue Brothers.  Before that it was Donohue & Henneberry.  M.A. Donohue was an imprint of the company from 1901 and for a few decades afterward.  It could be as late as WWI (~1918-1919) based on the endpapers of books from this format series.  For example, the Donohue edition with this cover design was listed in the 1913 McClurg catalog ( https://archive.org/details/retailcatalogue05chicgoog/page/n304/mode/2up ).  It was apparently out of print by 1921 because there was a bookseller request for it in Publishers' Weekly for that year.

Donohue published books for dime stores at cheap prices and they should be something that sold in sufficient numbers to be findable today.  Perhaps not.  I'm glad to have a similar copy to the one auctioned but have my doubts that informed bidders would go so high on a copy offered today.

If needed, I can photograph the pages of the Donohue edition with my CZUR Aura book scanner.  It only consumes the first 160 pages of the book.  The rest is padded out with other content.  I am still in the process of unpacking for our new nome in Wildomar, California but think I may be working on the Victorian and Edwardian Verne editions this weekend.

James D. Keeline

[James Keeline]

James D. Keeline
_____

http://www.Keeline.com

http://Stratemeyer.org

Tom Swift:  * Tom Swift Guide to Life * Tom Swift Ked's Book Reprints *

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.

[pj moe]

James

Thank you for sharing these details and links.

I agree, the text suggests a different translator for the Sampson Low edition of 'Lottery ticket' (other than G.Munro/tr. Kendall)

What puzzles me though, is, if so, how can it be that these translators, both for the UK and the US edition ended up with the idea of renaming one of Verne's central elements of the novel: the ship: Le "Viken", to: "Viking" [Sampson Low, ch. 1, page 11]? 

More about the various translations of 'Le no.9672' - and deviations from Verne's original text, in a separate discussion/string, as previously suggested. 

Best, Per Johan
www.julesverne.no/english

[James Keeline]

The pattern of English translations of Verne stories is interesting.  There are some isolated translators who worked on a single volume.  However, others seemed to work on multiple volumes for a given publisher over a span of years.  Certain names pop up again and again when a translator is credited or can be determined through other means.

Sampson Low was the principal publisher of English Verne texts in the U.K.  I think they promoted themselves as the authorized publisher, probably through some financial agreement with Hetzel.

Most Verne stories were published in French periodicals.  Many of these were in the Hetzel Magasin d'Education et de Recreation as illustrated serials spanning 6-18 months.  This was to comply with Verne's longstanding contract with Hetzel to provide them with a steady flow of a certain number of books per year.  Verne was able to work ahead and some of these came out after his death.  Meanwhile the publisher Hetzel issued the books on their own schedule.  Some of these started as unillustrated editions first and the illustrated volumes followed afterward.

Over the same span of years, other Verne stories were serialized in French newspapers such as Le Temps or Debats as feuilletons.  The typical location for these was on the bottom of the first page (or a specific interior page) of the periodical.

Once Verne was popular in other countries, publishers would race to have their own translations made.  Some of these were done while the French serial was continuing.  There is an old story about Around the World in Eighty Days where the story was serialized in the U.S. and steam ship companies made an appeal to Verne to mention their line in the story.  Verne is said to have declined this.

It is hard to confirm this story because one would need to find a serial that was early enough and before the book publication in English.  Some years back I found a unique translation in a Maine newspaper that is earlier than any other English language text for the story.  The translator was a woman but she is not named in the newspaper and her name has not been uncovered since.

It seems that some people made a specialty of translating fiction works for publishers and periodicals, either newspapers or magazines.  A given person might do work for a single author or several authors from a given language.

Back in the U.K. there were a few story paper magazines for younger readers such as the Boys' Own Paper which contained the first English translations for some Verne stories.  These issues were gathered into annuals to be sold around Christmas such as the Boys' Own Annual.  Quite often these translations seem to be unchanged from the Sampson Low book editions.  At least the opening paragraph seems to be the same and the chapter counts are consistent.

Some of the U.K. publishers issued competing translations.  Names like Frith, Roth, and Malleson seem to come up for these competing translations.

Some publishers of the period named the translator but many did not.  It was not a requirement like it is today.

In the U.S. there were the expensive publishers who issued lavish volumes of Verne's works.  Often these had the same kind of hasty translations with numerous errors.  The Louis Mercier translation of Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas (1872) refers to the "disagreeable lands of Nebraska" (when the "badlands" were indicated), contains many errors of translation and units of measurement, and omits a chapter describing the interior of the Nautilus.  Mercier worked on other Verne stories and probably the level of quality was not much improved on them.  The errors in Leagues are detailed in Walter James Miller's Annotated Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea (1976) along with his second restored translation of the story.  The first was in 1965.

Part of the reason for the haste was an informal gentleman's agreement among publishers of the early 1870s that whomever got their work out first was the "official" publisher of that work in the U.S.  There are competing ads for an authorized and unauthorized edition of The Adventures of Three Englishman and Three Russians.  The claim of an official version came from Scribner & Armstrong with Meridiana.  Henry L. Shepard issued In the Land of the Behemoth.  The collection of short stories led by "Dr. Ox's Experiment" had a contemporaneous competitor in From the Clouds to the Mountains and a later one A Winter Amid the Ice.

International copyright agreements changed all of this.

The U.S. had several periodical serializations of Verne stories in magazines and newspapers.  Often these followed a book publication and simply copied the translation but there were a few where the periodical precedes the book publication.

A major publisher of Verne stories was George Munro in their story paper called the Seaside Library and they seem to have commissioned translations for some stories that were picked up by the English-language book publishers.  One of these was Mathias Sandorf which was translated by George W. Hanna of New York City.  It is the only Verne he worked on and little is known about him.  For some reason, all of the book editions of the time in the U.S. and U.K. used this translation.

Other times the translations for the Seaside Library were used for very cheap publishers of the late-19th and early-20th centuries.  Thus, the translation for a Munro edition might be reprinted in later years by a dime store publisher like M.A. Donohue of Chicago in the 1910s.

Stephen W. White made a translation for the Philadelphia Evening Telegraph newspaper of at least four Verne stories, including Around the World in Eighty Days.  For some reason this translation was picked up by cheap book publishers and it has been reprinted many times since.  In the analysis it is slightly better than some of the other translations of the period.  So if one is looking for a Victorian or Edwardian era edition to reprint or read, this sometimes gets a nod for a good vintage translation.  Usually the cheap books had few or no illustrations at all.

We have seen some of the spurious translations of A Journey to the Centre of the Earth which make many changes to the character names and even invent scenes which cannot be found in any version of Verne's French text.  Thus, the simple renaming of the ship to a similar sounding word in English.  There are more translator transgressions out there.

Normally a modern academic translation by a Vernian is what one should look for if one wants to read the story in English and get as close to Verne as possible.  Several of the translators are in the modern Verne community.  Some were part of the old JVF and some are here now.  I hope the others who are still around will join us soon.

Aside from collecting books (mostly in English but some other languages here and there), I am curious about the English language periodical appearances (before and after book publication) and identifying, when possible, the translators.  This is something I have worked on (among other research projects) for a decade or more.

I don't recall there being a modern translation of this story so perhaps it is time to have one.  There are several publishers who could issue it or you could do it yourself in a print-on-demand fashion.  When done well, these benefit the whole community and help to restore Verne's reputation in the English-reading world.

James D. Keeline
_____

http://www.Keeline.com

http://Stratemeyer.org

Tom Swift:  * Tom Swift Guide to Life * Tom Swift Ked's Book Reprints *

Stratemeyer: * Victor Horton's Idea * Holiday Stories for Boys * Beyond the Edge of the World * Building the Line (soon) *

Reference: * Stratemeyer Syndicate Ghostwriters (soon) *
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[mken...@aol.com]

Hello James,

Thanks for the link to the Sampson Low edition!

I have a question about the Wildside reprint. Is it facsimile/scanned pages or newly set? (Is "newly set" the correct term?)

Best wishes

Matthias

[James Keeline]

I looked at the Amazon listing for the Wildside Press edition using the "Look Inside" feature.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1592242537

The text page looks like this:

 

This is retypeset from the original.  ("Newly set" also works for this activity.)  Wildside Press routinely does this so they can get the best quality printing and offer Kindle and other eBook formats.  

As near as I can tell, they have used the Sampson Low text and not provided anything new (illustrations, introduction, etc.) that would entitle them to a new copyright for the new content.  It does not seem to be a new translation but I have not made a comprehensive comparison.

Of course if Google Books was to have a copy of the book, they would still block the newly typeset version because a publisher like this slaps a new date (perhaps even calling it a copyright) on it.  In some cases, scans of vintage books are blocked and available only in snippet view because of the existence of modern reprints.  This is wrong but it is impossible to convince Google otherwise without a lawsuit.  In this case, the HathiTrust copy is still available but that is not always true.

I notice a very low price on the paperback edition of the Wildside Press book at the moment.

Wildside Press is a small publisher.  They do some original content such as the anthology for Bouchercon (mystery convention) and a lot of reprints.  For some of them I think they contact the rights holders.  For others I am not so sure that they do.  They recently offered a 1930 (in copyright) text of the first Nancy Drew book and it is unlikely that the copyright holder (Simon & Schuster) has granted them permission for this.  So, I don't know how thorough they are in securing rights for everything they publish that is not in the public domain.  The Sampson Low Verne Translation is public domain so they can do what they want with it, except claim a fresh copyright for an old public domain work.

James D. Keeline

[mken...@aol.com]

Thank you!

I can’t use the "Look Inside" feature for this book. (Geo-blocking?) Are you sure it’s really the Wildside edition? Sometimes they don’t have a book in digital form and show another edition when you click "Look Inside". The reason for my question is the following. It says here:

http://www.julesverne.ca/jv.gilead.org.il/evans/VerneTrans(biblio).html

… that Wildside reprinted the Sampson Low version … which has "painted beams" instead of "stained rafters" in the first sentence, cf. above. But the screenshot that you included in your message has "stained rafters", so it must be from the Munro (transl. Kendall) edition instead of the Sampson Low.

Either Arthur B. Evans’ bibliography has a mistake there or the screenshot is not the correct one.

Or have I overlooked anything?

Best wishes

Matthias

[James Keeline]

The Look Inside feature of Amazon does not show the title page but I think it probably is the Wildside Press edition.  It is on the paperback and hardcover pages for the Wildside Press edition.

So that you may better evaluate which translation it is, I have captured the pages.

 

 

 

 

Perhaps you can best determine which translation text this is.  The listing attributes it to Laura E. Kendall.

Notice that there is a Kindle version available.

James D. Keeline
_____

On Thursday, March 11, 2021, 04:48:54 PM PST, 'mken...@aol.com' via Jules Verne Forum <jules-ve...@googlegroups.com> wrote:

Thank you!

I can’t use the "Look Inside" feature for this book. (Geo-blocking?) Are you sure it’s really the Wildside edition? Sometimes they don’t have a book in digital form and show another edition when you click "Look Inside". The reason for my question is the following. It says here:

http://www.julesverne.ca/jv.gilead.org.il/evans/VerneTrans(biblio).html

… that Wildside reprinted the Sampson Low version … which has "painted beams" instead of "stained rafters" in the first sentence, cf. above. But the screenshot that you included in your message has "stained rafters", so it must be from the Munro (transl. Kendall) edition instead of the Sampson Low.

Either Arthur B. Evans’ bibliography has a mistake there or the screenshot is not the correct one.

Or have I overlooked anything?

Best wishes

Matthias

james schrieb am Donnerstag, 11. März 2021 um 19:35:01 UTC+1:

I looked at the Amazon listing for the Wildside Press edition using the "Look Inside" feature.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1592242537

The text page looks like this:

 

This is retypeset from the original.  ("Newly set" also works for this activity.)  Wildside Press routinely does this so they can get the best quality printing and offer Kindle and other eBook formats.  

As near as I can tell, they have used the Sampson Low text and not provided anything new (illustrations, introduction, etc.) that would entitle them to a new copyright for the new content.  It does not seem to be a new translation but I have not made a comprehensive comparison.

Of course if Google Books was to have a copy of the book, they would still block the newly typeset version because a publisher like this slaps a new date (perhaps even calling it a copyright) on it.  In some cases, scans of vintage books are blocked and available only in snippet view because of the existence of modern reprints.  This is wrong but it is impossible to convince Google otherwise without a lawsuit.  In this case, the HathiTrust copy is still available but that is not always true.

I notice a very low price on the paperback edition of the Wildside Press book at the moment.

Wildside Press is a small publisher.  They do some original content such as the anthology for Bouchercon (mystery convention) and a lot of reprints.  For some of them I think they contact the rights holders.  For others I am not so sure that they do.  They recently offered a 1930 (in copyright) text of the first Nancy Drew book and it is unlikely that the copyright holder (Simon & Schuster) has granted them permission for this.  So, I don't know how thorough they are in securing rights for everything they publish that is not in the public domain.  The Sampson Low Verne Translation is public domain so they can do what they want with it, except claim a fresh copyright for an old public domain work.

James D. Keeline

[mken...@aol.com]

Thank you!

That’s a different edition, as you can see from the ISBN 9781979200240; it’s a Createspace book (Amazon’s print-on-demand brand). The Wildside edition has a different ISBN: 9781592242535 (this link points to Abebook’s product page).

(I can’t rule out the possibility, though, that Wildside re-issued their edition as a Createspace book.)

Best wishes

Matthias

[James Keeline]

I noticed the difference of ISBN.  When I search for the ISBN I get this item, a Kindle book.  Since it was offered at USD1.00, I decided to buy a copy of it.

https://www.amazon.com/Lottery-Ticket-Jules-Verne-ebook/dp/B00OP16HX4

There are many opportunistic publishers out there.  For the most part, they grab anything that is free (e.g. from Gutenberg.org) and publish it in eBook or print-on-demand formats as a form of passive income.  Often they do only minimal formatting and rarely any careful editing as is often called for.  In 2010 we issued the first five Tom Swift volumes for the 100th anniversary of the series.  We found that the Gutenberg texts had many errors and each required several hours of editing with a vintage copy in hand and comparing with the text in the files.  We put them together in a format that closely resembled the 1932 Keds books which were pulp-paper premiums for the famous athletic shoe line.  Only the first two books were offered in 1932.  Our editions included an appendix about the range of Tom Swift collectibles available at that time.

When we take a public domain text, it is seldom available online in any form so we have to completely transcribe and edit the story.  In addition to this we add a lengthy introduction and include copious footnotes to give context.  We also find vintage illustrations that fit the story.  In the case of the unpublished manuscript, Beyond the Edge of the World, we commissioned four paintings from Ron Miller (a noted Vernian) that fit the era when it was written and intended to be published.

_____

The cover of the images I provided for The Lottery Ticket match the ones on the Wildside Press website.  They don't have a preview on their own website.

The opening paragraph of the Kindle edition (linked above) and the Wildside Press "Look Inside" appears to be the same.

CreateSpace is the print-on-demand division of Amazon.  Pretty much all of the PoD book that are offered there have to be issued through their service.  There are, of course, other PoD services (e.g. Lulu.com which we use for the 24 Palmer Street Press books) but they have a much harder time getting listed on Amazon.

Good luck with your project on The Lottery Ticket.  We shall all benefit from the extra context you can provide for the story.

James D. Keeline

[mken...@aol.com]

Thank you!

It all seems to be a bit mysterious. When I click the link to the eBook, I see a different version, from Jazzybee.

When I look on Wildside’s site, I see a different cover (the same as on Abebooks’ product page (link in my last post)):

Source: https://wildsidepress.com/the-lottery-ticket-by-jules-verne-tpb/

Best wishes

Matthias

[mken...@aol.com]

I asked Wildside Press using the contact form on their site. Got a detailed answer from John Betancourt, who is a writer himself, so his name may sound familiar to you https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Gregory_Betancourt

The Wildside edition is a reprint of the Sampson Low edition.

(So the information in Arthur B. Evans’s bibliography is correct http://www.julesverne.ca/jv.gilead.org.il/evans/VerneTrans(biblio).html )

It’s a facsimile of the Sampson Low.

The cover is the cover that I included in my last post.

The book has recently been augmented by a two-page introduction written by Darrell Schweitzer https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darrell_Schweitzer

The cover has not been changed, except for minor changes to the back cover.

The ISBN is still the same: 9781592242535 (I already quoted it above).

It’s also available as a hardcover book, ISBN 9781592242542.

Best wishes

Matthias