The Will of an Eccentric
Encyclopedia
The Will of an Eccentric ' onMouseout='HidePop("96340")' href="/topics/1900_in_literature">1900
) is an adventure novel
written by Jules Verne
based on the Game of the Goose
.
In 1897 the first Baedecker guide book for the U.S. was published, and Verne used this as the source for his descriptions of the modes of transport, timetables, and geographic descriptions of the numerous places the twelve participants were required to visit in order to claim the prize.
1900 in literature
The year 1900 in literature involved some significant new books and publications, as well as the deaths of several highly prominent writers, including among them the late Irish poet Oscar Wilde and the German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche....
) is an adventure novel
Adventure novel
The adventure novel is a genre of novels that has adventure, an exciting undertaking involving risk and physical danger, as its main theme.-History:...
written by Jules Verne
Jules Verne
Jules Gabriel Verne was a French author who pioneered the science fiction genre. He is best known for his novels Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea , A Journey to the Center of the Earth , and Around the World in Eighty Days...
based on the Game of the Goose
Game of the Goose
The Game Of The Goose is a board game with uncertain origins. Some people connect the game with the Phaistos Disc , others claim that it was originally a gift from Francesco I de' Medici of Florence to King Philip II of Spain sometime between 1574 and 1587, while the latest theories attribute to...
.
Publication history
- 1899,France, Paris, J. Hetzel et Cie, Le Testament d'un excentrique 1899 in magazine format and 1900 in illustrated book format.
- 1900, UK, London: Sampson Low, Marston & Co., 408 pp., English translation.
- This illustrated version was published by Sampson Low in England in October, 1900, and contains 59 of the original 61 illustrations from the French editiion. This is the last book which Sampson Low published during Verne's lifetime. Interest in his works had declined and the number printed was low, resulting in this becoming one of the rarest of the Sampson Low editions of Verne's works, currently listed at over $5000 by antiquarian booksellers. Although the story takes place entirely in the United States, it has never been published there.
- In 2009 the Choptank Press republished the 1900 Sampson and Low illustrated edition together with an "Afterword" by Dr. Brian Taves.
Plot summary
William J. Hypperbone, an eccentric millionaire, living in Chicago, has left the sum of his fortune, $60,000,000, to the first person to reach the end of "The Noble Game of the United States of America." The game he devised is based upon the board game "The Noble Game of Goose"; however, in his version, the players are the tokens and the game board is the United States. The contestants are Max Réal (with his companion Tommy); Tom Crabbe (with his trainer John Milner); Hermann Titbury (with his wife Kate); Harris T. Kymbale (on his own); Lizzie Wag (with her friend Jovita Foley); Hodge Urrican (with his companion Turk) and the mysterious player only known as "XKZ." And who is this mysterious "XKZ" who was added to the game by a codicil to the will? Time and completion of the game will tell. (Courtesy djk)In 1897 the first Baedecker guide book for the U.S. was published, and Verne used this as the source for his descriptions of the modes of transport, timetables, and geographic descriptions of the numerous places the twelve participants were required to visit in order to claim the prize.
External links
- Le Testament d'un excentrique available at Jules Verne Collection