Voyages to the Moon and the Sun

by Cyrano de Bergerac, Quentin Blake (Illustrator), John Wells (Introduction)

The real Cyrano de Bergerac was every bit as extraordinary as the legendary long-nosed duelist immortalized in plays and films: a soldier with a reputation for acts of extreme bravery, and an author branded a madman by his 17th-century contemporaries because of the boundless imagination of his writings. His two greatest works, Voyage to the Moon and Voyage to the Sun, appeared in print in 1657 and 1662, shortly after Cyrano’s death at the age of just 35. Both are masterpieces of early science fiction: the direct (if unacknowledged) inspiration for Gulliver’s Travels, and a key influence on later sci-fi pioneers including Jules Verne and Edgar Allan Poe.

Voyage to the Moon sees Cyrano’s fictional alter-ego accidentally carried to the Moon by a multi-stage rocket, launched by the very fireworks that were supposed to incinerate it. In the lunar society he discovers, earthly values are turned on their head: the young are respected rather than the old, and well-argued opinions rated higher than social status; free love is officially enforced, and noblemen sport a phallus-shaped emblem instead of a sword; and battles are fought only when all of the combatants are perfectly matched. The hapless Cyrano finds himself exhibited as a performing monkey, then tried in court for daring to suggest that Earth is also inhabited. In its equally fantastical sequel, Cyrano’s tales of his moon-voyage lead to his imprisonment as a sorcerer and his escape attempt in a home-made vacuum-powered crate becomes an unscheduled trip to the Sun only when his vessel proves unexpectedly efficient. Once again, the hapless Cyrano finds himself put on trial, indicted by a solar race of intelligent birds for the crime of being human.

Both stories are presented as "histoires comiques" – "comic tales." But under cover of tongue-in-cheek discussions of whether a cabbage can be guilty of original sin and his imaginative flourishes – including "talking books" that pre-empt the iPod by over 300 years and sail-driven mobile homes on wheels – Cyrano raises controversial questions about social conventions, the status of humanity in an infinite universe, and even the existence of God.

These extraordinary texts have been a personal favorite of Quentin Blake's for over 40 years. With their "nasally gifted" comic protagonist, characters flying with (and without) various cobbled-together machines, wildly gesticulating nude giants and a kingdom of birds, Cyrano’s fantasies could have been tailor-made for him. After spontaneously illustrating elements of the text without any commission, Quentin produced a complete – and very extensive – illustration of both texts for the Folio Society in 1991. Now, over 25 years on, he has revisited his original images, redrawing, replacing and adding to them, as well as creating a stunning new binding and slipcase. Using Richard Aldington’s classic translation and with an introduction by John Wells, which brings the historical Cyrano de Bergerac out from the shadow of the legend, the result is a luxurious enhanced edition of these visionary tales.

Bound in blocked cloth
Set in Fournier
232 pages
Over 125 integrated duotone illustrations Gilded page-tops
Blocked slipcase
12˝ x 8½˝

CONTENTS

Voyage to the Moon
Voyage to the Sun
Story of the Birds

Genres: Fiction, Science Fiction

232 pages, Hardcover

Published January 1, 2018

About the author

Savinien Cyrano de Bergerac, French satirist, and dramatist whose works combining political satire and science-fantasy inspired a number of later writers. He has been the basis of many romantic but unhistorical legends, of which the best known is Edmond Rostand’s play Cyrano de Bergerac (1897), in which he is portrayed as a gallant and brilliant but shy and ugly lover, possessed (as in fact he was) of a remarkably large nose.

As a young man, Cyrano joined the company of guards and was wounded at the Siege of Arras in 1640. But he gave up his military career in the following year to study under the philosopher and mathematician Pierre Gassendi. Under the influence of Gassendi’s scientific theories and libertine philosophy, Cyrano wrote his two best known works, Histoire comique des états et empires de la lune and Histoire comique des états et empires du soleil (Eng. trans. A Voyage to the moon: with some account of the Solar World, 1754). These stories of imaginary journeys to the Moon and Sun, published posthumously in 1656 and 1662, satirize 17th-century religious and astronomical beliefs, which saw man and the world as the centre of creation.

Reviews

[Jan-Maat]

This volume contains three stories which together form a loose narrative. First comes the Voyage to the Moon, while Voyage to the Sun opens with the consequences of writing and publishing the story of the voyage to the Moon, and the final Story of the Birds is a continuation of the Voyage to the Sun. Really you could read them individually or in any order, the relationship between the stories is sequential but not really consequential.

The Voyage to the Moon is more along the lines of Science fiction if only in that there are details of the different technologies that people on the Moon have. Still one could equally think of all three stories being fantastical or philosophical versions of the travellers tale - an earlier version of Gulliver's travels, indeed I would be surprised if Jonathan Swift had not read Cyrano de Bergerac and used these stories both for their general approach, attitudes and as a source of ideas. Though the impression I had was that Swift dislikes humans, while de Bergerac is happy just to make fun of the conceit that humans are superior to other animals or superior to nature.

These are light hearted and fun adventures, they come across rather as though you are present at a live performance. In places there are sentences which the translator confesses that he did not understand and the narrative cuts out in places - most interestingly at the end of the Story of the Birds, perhaps this is due to poor quality early editions, or a lack of revision by the author, but this enhanced for me the feeling of being present at the live performance of a play with an hyperactive actor playing all the parts and improvising most of the story as they go along.

[Iain]

'Moon' is the better of the 2 books, by turns hilarious, prophetic, surreal and profound. 'Sun' meanders along without hitting the same heights. Incredible that some of his thoughts and parodies ring true almost 400 years later. Reminded me of Gullivers Travels or Tristram Shandy in style. Blake's illustrations suite the style of writing perfectly.

[James]

Reading these stories was like having a very long intense conversation with a man who you slowly start to realize might be a bit mad, which is to say it was one of the most enjoyable books I've read in quite some time.

It is simultaneously silly, charming, utterly odd, irreverent and profound, often in rapid succession. It is a beautiful love letter to imagination, curiosity, and freedom and I want to give everyone I know a copy, not necessarily because I want to discuss it or anything like that. I just loved it so much I want others to love it as well.

The bit about the cabbages in 'Moon', for as silly as it is, moved me nearly to tears and the Story of the Lover-Trees in 'Sun' touched my heart deeply.

[Sarahbrarian]

I enjoyed it quite a lot. I really love silly stories and recommend it if you do too. The Voyage to the Moon is the most SF, but there are scientific ideas scattered throughout.

[David]

A wonder! The Cyrano de Bergerac that I know is the bulbous nose melancholic but deadly swordsman of Rostand's 1897 play or a Gérard Depardieu's representation in Rappeneau's 1990 film. This came as a complete surprise especially for a book written in the 1650s. No wonder it was published posthumously in 1657 (some stories have it that he was murdered by Jesuits). Cyrano parodies and questions every kind of perceived authority in this book to the point of blasphemy! He travels to the moon in a multi-stage rocket and once there (he is much smaller than the locals and exhibited as a performing 'monkey') he discovers that all his earth-bound values our turned on their head for an incredibly modern and contemporary take on like and society—the young are more respected than the old, 'influencer' options are valued above class and status and free love is de rigeur. My favourite is a discussion about whether cabbages have a soul and were conscious of 'original sin'. No wonder de Bergerac and these treatises (moon and sun) had such an influence on Hobbe, Voltaire and of course Swift with his land of giants Brobdingnag and Gulliver traded as the 'Queen's Animal' not to mention Jules Verne! More people need to discover this little-known masterpiece!

[Vicki]

I was eager to read "Voyages", it being the most famous work of Cyrano de Bergerac. Alas, I am unfamiliar with 17th century French culture and literature, so I suspect I missed a lot of the humor in the book.

There's an introduction by Ricard Aldington, which provides some material on Cyrano's poorly documented life.

I could not fully appreciate this work, so I will reread this at a later date, when, hopefully, I will be better informed.

[Lily McKeefry]

I feel like I was reading Cyrano’s slow descent into madness. I mean, Voyages to the Moon wasn’t very tame either, but Voyages to the Sun was UNHINGED. What was that? Also, I could’ve lived the rest of my life happy without ever having to hear Cyrano’s philosophy of sex. Keep that to yourself, bro. And why was this dude naked every few scenes? I’m talking a lot of shit, but I have mad respect for Cyrano, especially from a historical point of view. What a dude.

[Lulu]

1650
https://archive.org/details/dli.minis...


Moon pub. 1658
Sun pub. 1662

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3...


Also https://www.baen.com/Chapters/9781625...