[Allan Quatermain] Découverte des mines du roi Salomon

First French edition, rare, published in Hetzel's Bibliothèque d'éducation et de récréation. Translation and adaptation by G. Lemaire. Preface and postface by Bentzon. EK catalogue in fine.
Publisher's binding in half red shagreen signed Lenègre at tail. Spine with false raised bands decorated with gilt and blind compartments. White moiré endpapers. Blind fillet borders on boards. Rubbing to edges and corners. Some occasional worming and pale foxing. A few leaves slightly proud. Handsome copy.
King Solomon's Mines first appeared in London in 1885. It relates the adventures of a group of English explorers in a part of that continent hitherto unknown to Europeans. Setting out in search of a missing relative, they discover a land where diamonds abound. This is the first British work of fiction with a plot set in Africa. The work was a great success. The character Allan Quatermain, destined for a great future in other books, appears for the first time in this novel. Along with Treasure Island, also published by Hetzel a few years earlier, it is one of the great adventure books for young people. The novel has been adapted for cinema many times from 1919 to 1986.