# Is "Five Weeks in a Balloon (Cinq semaines en ballon)" by Jules Verne a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of Five Weeks in a Balloon (Cinq semaines en ballon) by Jules Verne (J. Hetzel, 1863) is identified by: The édition originale is the in-18 format (approx. The French original (Hetzel, Paris, 1863) is unambiguously the true first — Verne's first novel and the inaugural title of the Voyages Extraordinaires — and the census call is correct.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- J. Hetzel, Paris, 1863
- The édition originale is the in-18 format (approx
- 173 x 120 mm), 354 pp., with the subtitle "Voyage de découvertes en Afrique par trois Anglais, rédigé sur les notes du docteur Fergusson" — the wording "rédigé sur" is a point, later editions reading "rédigé d'après." First-issue points: the title page bears the initials "J H" at centre and does NOT carry "Seconde édition"; and pages 247, 317, 337 and 342 are misnumbered 47, 17, 37 and 42 — these pagination errors were corrected in the second edition and are the sharpest internal test
- The printer's imprint "Imprimerie Poupart-Davyl et Ce, rue du Bac, 30" appears in its original form on the verso of the half-title and at the foot of the final table page
- The edition was announced under no
- 596 of the Bibliographie de la France on 17 January 1863 and put on sale 31 January 1863
- Publisher imprint reads J. Hetzel

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Jules Verne |
| Publisher | J. Hetzel |
| Year | 1863 |
| True first | US edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | J. Hetzel, Paris, 1863 |
| Book-club edition exists? | Yes |

## Points of issue
J. Hetzel, Paris, 1863. The édition originale is the in-18 format (approx. 173 x 120 mm), 354 pp., with the subtitle "Voyage de découvertes en Afrique par trois Anglais, rédigé sur les notes du docteur Fergusson" — the wording "rédigé sur" is a point, later editions reading "rédigé d'après." First-issue points: the title page bears the initials "J H" at centre and does NOT carry "Seconde édition"; and pages 247, 317, 337 and 342 are misnumbered 47, 17, 37 and 42 — these pagination errors were corrected in the second edition and are the sharpest internal test. The printer's imprint "Imprimerie Poupart-Davyl et Ce, rue du Bac, 30" appears in its original form on the verso of the half-title and at the foot of the final table page. The edition was announced under no. 596 of the Bibliographie de la France on 17 January 1863 and put on sale 31 January 1863. Binding is not a point: as with Hetzel's in-18 trade issues, surviving copies are commonly found in contemporary or later bindings (half calf over marbled boards and similar), which are owner bindings and carry no bibliographic weight.

## Is this the true first?
The French original (Hetzel, Paris, 1863) is unambiguously the true first — Verne's first novel and the inaugural title of the Voyages Extraordinaires — and the census call is correct. No English-language edition precedes it; every English edition is a translation and is therefore a "first thus" in English rather than the true first, however early. The census's specific attribution of the first US English edition to Appleton in 1869 was NOT confirmed in the sources consulted and should not be relied on as stated. Collectors should also note that the format itself is a point: the 1863 first is the in-18; the celebrated illustrated Hetzel large-format cartonnage issues are later and are not the first edition.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
Book-club issues do not apply to an 1863 French trade publication. The reprint tells are: "Seconde édition" on the title page — the second edition was announced under no. 3087 of the Bibliographie de la France on 4 April 1863, roughly two months after the first, and is otherwise identical to the first; the corrected pagination at pp. 247, 317, 337 and 342; the subtitle wording "rédigé d'après" in place of "rédigé sur"; and the later illustrated Hetzel issues in large format.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *Five Weeks in a Balloon (Cinq semaines en ballon)* by Jules Verne a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/five-weeks-in-a-balloon-cinq-semaines-en-ballon
CC BY 4.0. Part of the Canonical First-Edition Points of Issue dataset (https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/api/first-edition-titles.json). Last reviewed 2026-07-04.