Page last modified: April 6, 2024

NOTE: These are the Pears and Pears-Like Editions, and links to their set descriptions. ...
This page!
Pears' Plain
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Pears' Banner


Pears / Non-Pears Checklist

Book Sets/Series
Pears' Soap Edition
"Good morning. Have you used Pears' soap?"
Sampson Low, Marston, Searle & Rivington
London


(The colour of the cover, depends on the lighting and the amount of fading the cover has endured)

(notice the thickness of Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea above!)


above image courtesy of David Linton

Sampson Low, Pears' Soap Editions
Between 1883 and 1910(?) Sampson Low, London, issued a set of 39 Jules Verne titles, with a distinctive red cover, and on the back cover was a Pears' Soap advertisement, asking: "Good morning. Have you used Pears' soap?"

Pears soap had many controversial ads, and campaigns, related to the breadth of the British Empire, and the "whitening" of the colonies. See a description of this below the listing of the covers!

The editions were sometimes identified on the title page as "Authors Illustrated Edition" or "New and Cheaper Edition"

The "Authors Illustrated Edition" was a bit of a misnomer, as those volumes contained very few illustrations (7 - 9, including the Frontice). I guess 7 illustrations is better than no illustrations.

There were 2 cover styles issued.
The first had the title printed directly on the red cover:

ed: I'll call this Cover style "Plain", as in Pears binding, Plain style.


The volumes with these covers in RED are Pears bindings.
This style in another colour or gilt is NOT a Pears binding.

The second version had the title printed in a banner, with a blue or grayish background:

ed: I'll call this Cover style "Banner", as in Pears binding, Banner style.


This variation in red has a pears ad on the rear cover.
If you see this cover in another colour, it will not be a Pears binding.
If you see this cover with a gilt banner and in another colour it is will not be a Pears binding.

In each case, the image on the cover was exactly the same, except the banner across the middle of the image said "Jules Verne" for style 1 and had part of the title for style 2!

The contents of the books with 2 different cover styles, appear to have the exact same publishing date printed on the title page.
Is it possible that one style was a more expensive volume?

The books with "Cover style plain" sometimes, over time, seem to aquire a shiny appearance. I believe they start off with a "linen, textured, finish".

The books with "Cover style banner" do not seem to turn shiny, and were published in a "linen, textured, finish".

NOTE: Pears editions are ALWAYS red.

Below are images of "Pears-like" bindings.

If you see a volume with gilt on the cover, then it is NOT a pears edition (no ad on the rear cover).

NOT
PEARS


Gilt Title
NOT
PEARS


Gilt Title
NOT
PEARS

Gilt Title
NOT 
PEARS


Gilt Banner
NOT
PEARS


Gilt Banner
NOT
PEARS


Gilt Banner

Cover style banner: If you see a volume bound in another colour, then it is NOT a pears edition (no ad on the rear cover).

NOT 
PEARS


Grey Banner
NOT 
PEARS


Grey Banner


Grey Banner

Random Notes til I get it all right!:

  • "New and Cheaper Edition" : Is this a later printing of Pears?
  • Were both style covers available for purchase at the same time? Many have been seen with the same date on the title page.


Here are the 39 titles published in the series identified so far(alphabetical by title):

Alphabetical

  1. Abandoned (Mysterious Island, Part 2)
  2. The Adventures of Three Englishmen and Three Russians in South Africa
  3. The Archipelago on Fire
  4. Around the Moon (Round the Moon on Title page)
  5. Around the World in Eighty Days
  6. The Begums Fortune
  7. The Blockade Runners
  8. Burbank the Northerner (North Against South, Part 1)
  9. The Captain of the Guidara (Keraban the Inflexible, Part 1)
  10. The Child of the Cavern
  11. The Clipper of the Clouds
  12. The Cryptogrm (The Giant Raft, Part 2)
  13. The Demon of Cawnpore (The Steam House, Part 1)
  14. Dick Sands
  15. Dr Ox's Experiment, Master Zacharius
  16. Dropped From the Clouds (Mysterious Island, Part 1)
  17. Eight Hundred Leagues on the Amazon (The Giant Raft Part 1)
  18. Five Weeks in a Balloon
  19. The Flight to France or The Memoirs of a Dragoon
  20. A Floating City
  21. From the Earth to the Moon
  22. The Fur Country
  23. Godfrey Morgan
  24. The Green Ray
  25. Hector Servadac
  26. The Lottery Ticket
  27. Martin Paz
  28. Mathias Sandorf, Part 1
  29. Mathias Sandorf, Part 2
  30. Michael Strogoff
  31. Scarpante the Spy (Keraban the Inflexible, Part 2)
  32. The Secret of the Island (Mysterious Island, Part 3)
  33. The Survivors of the Chancellor (Part 1 and 2 in 1 volume)
  34. Texar the Southerner (North Against South, Part 2)
  35. Tigers and Traitors (The Steam House, Part 2)
  36. Tribulations of a Chinaman
  37. Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas (Complete in 2 parts)
  38. Vanished Diamond
  39. A Winter Amid the Ice

The following is an ad for books, in Mathias Sandorf, Part 2, 1889
I think the Pears' Soap bindings, would be the last column "Coloured boards, or cloth"

Above image courtesy of James D. Keeline

Pears' Soap Edition

Plain and Banner Bindings

Pears' Soap Edition
Plain Cover - 39 different titles - Alphabetical - complete set shown below (all 39 covers)
Look below for a full description of each volume!

Pears' Soap Edition
Banner Cover - 39 different titles - Alphabetical - Partial set shown below (32 of 39 covers)

The Adventures of Three Englishmen and Three Russians in South Africa Around the Moon
Burbank the Northerner
Flight to France
Fur Country
Texar the Southerner
Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea

Individual Listings for EACH Title in the Pears Plain and Banner bindings

The Adventures of Three Englishmen and Three Russians in South Africa
-Plain

The Adventures of Three Englishmen and Three Russians in South Africa
1892
Sampson Low, Marston & Company
London

191 pages

Author's Illustrated Edition

Image and listing information provided by Dana Eales

The Adventures of Three Englishmen and Three Russians in South Africa
- Banner - Need Image

The Archilpelago on Fire
-Plain

Archipelago on Fire
1888
Sampson Low, Marston, Searle and Rivington
London

1894
Sampson Low
London

The Archilpelago on Fire
- Banner

Archipelago on Fire
1888
Sampson Low, Marston, Searle and Rivington
London

"Illustrated"

6 illustrations

198 pages + 1 page Catalogur

Collection Andrew Nash

4. Around the Moon
-Plain

Around the Moon
- below from Title Page -
Round the Moon:
A Sequel to "From the Earth to the Moon."

1893
Sampson Low, Marston & Company
London

Authorized Illustrated Edition

Translated from the French
By Louis Mercier, M.A. (Oxon), and
Eleanor E. King

Note: No Frontice illustration in this volume

image and listing information courtesy of David Linton

Around the Moon
- Banner - Need Image

Around the World in Eighty Days
-Plain

Around the World in Eighty Days
nd
Sampson Low
London
Around the World in Eighty Days
- Banner

Around the World in Eighty Days
1889
Sampson Low, Marston, Searle and Rivington
London

192 pages

Author's Illustrated Edition

Image and listing information provided by Dana Eales

The Begums Fortune
-Plain

The Begums Fortune
1890
Sampson Low, Martson, Searle & Rivington
London

Image and listing information provided by Dana Eales

The Begums Fortune
- Banner

The Begums Fortune
1890
Sampson Low, Martson, Searle & Rivington
London
The Blockade Runners
-Plain

The Blockade Runners
1894
Sampson Low, Martston, Searle and Rivington
London

The Blockade Runners
- Banner

The Blockade Runners
1887
Sampson Low, Martston, Searle and Rivington
London

Author's Illustrated Edition

image and listing information courtesy of David Linton

The Child of the Cavern
-Plain

Child of the Cavern, or Strange Doings Underground
1888
Sampson Low
London

also 1891

Author's Illustrated Edition

Translated by W. H. G. Kingston

10 illustrations

174 pages

Collection Andrew Nash

The Child of the Cavern
- Banner

Child of the Cavern
1888
Sampson Low
London

The Clipper of the Clouds
-Plain

The Clipper of the Clouds
1891
Sampson Low, Marston, Searle & Rivington
London

New and Cheaper Edition

The Clipper of the Clouds
- Banner

Clipper of the Clouds
1891
Sampson Low, Marston, Searle & Rivington
London

"With Seven Illustrations

New and Cheaper Edition

7 illustrations

192 pages

Collection Andrew Nash

Dick Sands
or The Boy Captain
(Part 1 and 2 in same Volume)
-Plain

Dick Sands or The Boy Captain
Part 1 and 2 in same volume

1882
Sampson Low, Marston, Searle & Rivington
London

Part 2 has a title page, 1882 also

Author's Illustrated Edition

383 pages
14 Illustrations

image and listing information courtesy of David Linton

Collection Andrew Nash

Dick Sands
or The Boy Captain
(Part 1 and 2 in same Volume)
- Banner

Dick Sands or The Boy Captain
Part 1 and 2 in same volume

18xx
Sampson Low, Marston, Searle & Rivington
London
Dr Ox's Experiment, Master Zacharius
-Plain

Dr. Ox's Experiment, Master Zacharius
xxxx
Sampson Low
London

Image courtesy of Andrew Cox Rare Books

Dr Ox's Experiment, Master Zacharius
- Banner

Dr. Ox's Experiment, Master Zacharius
1888
Sampson Low
London

190 pages

Authors Illustrated Edition

Image and listing information provided by Dana Eales

Five Weeks in a Balloon
-Plain

Five Weeks in a Balloon

Sampson Low
London
Five Weeks in a Balloon
- Banner -

Five Weeks in a Balloon
nd - circa 1880
Sampson Low
London

The Flight to France
-Plain

The Flight to France
or The Memoirs of a Dragoon
A Tale of the Days of Dumouriez

1893
Sampson Low, Marston and Co
London

The Flight to France
- Banner - Need Image

The Floating City
-Plain

The Floating City

Sampson Low
London

The Floating City
- Banner

The Floating City

Sampson Low
London

From the Earth to the Moon
-Plain

From the Earth to the Moon

Sampson Low
London
From the Earth to the Moon
- Banner

From the Earth to the Moon
1889
Sampson Low
London

7 illustrations

Fur Country
-Plain

The Fur Country
1907
Sampson Low, Marston & Company
London

334 pages

Translated by N. D'Anvers

Fur Country
- Banner - Need Image

The Giant Raft, Part 1
Eight Hundred Leagues on the Amazon

-Plain

Eight Hundred Leagues on the Amazon
Giant Raft Part 1

1893
Sampson Low, Marston and Company
London
The Giant Raft, Part 1
Eight Hundred Leagues on the Amazon

- Banner

The Giant Raft, Part 2
The Cryptogram

-Plain

The Cryptogram
Giant Raft Part 2

1894
Sampson Low, Marston and Company
London
The Giant Raft, Part 2
The Cryptogram

- Banner

Godfrey Morgan
-Plain

Godfrey Morgan
1892
Sampson Low
London
Godfrey Morgan
- Banner

Godfrey Morgan, A Californian Mystery
18xx
Sampson Low Marston and Co
London

The Green Ray
A Romance of the Scottish Highlands

-Plain

The Green Ray
A Romance of the Scottish Highlands

nd
Sampson Low, Marston & Company
London

160 pages

Top image and listing information provided by Dana Eales

The Green Ray
A Romance of the Scottish Highlands

- Banner

The Green Ray
A Romance of the Scottish Highlands

nd (Circa 1890)
Sampson Low, Marston, Searle & Rivington
London

Translated from the French by Mary de Hauteville

7 illustrations

160 pages

Collection Andrew Nash

Hector Servadac
-Plain

Hector Servadac
1882
Sampson Low, Marston, Searle and Rivington
London

Third Edition

with Numerous Illustrations

tanslated by Ellen E. Frewer

Hector Servadac
- Banner
Keraban the Inflexible, Part 1
The Captain of the Guidara

-Plain

The Captain of the Guidara,
Keraban the Inflexible, Part 1

1887
Sampson Low
London

6 illustrations

176 pages

Keraban the Inflexible, Part 1
The Captain of the Guidara

- Banner

The Captain of the Guidara,
Keraban the Inflexible, Part 1

1887
Sampson Low
London

Illustrated

6 illustrations

176 pages

Collection Andrew Nash

Keraban the inflexible, Part 2
Scarpante the Spy

-Plain

Scarpante the Spy,
Keraban the Inflexible, Part 2

1887
Sampson Low, Marston, Searle & Rivington
London

Illustrated

6 illustrations

173 pages

Keraban the inflexible, Part 2
Scarpante the Spy

- Banner

Scarpante the Spy,
Keraban the Inflexible, Part 2

1887
Sampson Low, Marston, Searle & Rivington
London

6 illustrations

173 pages

Collection Andrew Nash

The Lottery Ticket
A Tale of Tellemarken
-Plain

The Lottery Ticket
A Tale of Tellemarken

1890
Sampson Low, Marston, Searle & Rivington
London

New and Cheaper Edition

6 illust

image and listing information courtesy of David Linton

The Lottery Ticket
A Tale of Tellemarken
- Banner

The Lottery Ticket
A Tale of Tellemarken

1890
Sampson Low
London

Martin Paz
-Plain

Martin Paz
1891
Sampson Low, Marston & Company
London

Martin Paz
- Banner

Mathias Sandorf, Part 1
-Plain

Mathias Sandorf
Part 1

1889
Sampson Low
London
Mathias Sandorf, Part 1
- Banner


I will keep searching for a better image

Mathias Sandorf
Part 1

1889
Sampson Low
London

Mathias Sandorf, Part 2
Captives of Antekritta

-Plain

Mathias Sandorf, Part 2
Captives of Antekritta

1889
Sampson Low
London

Image courtesy of Andrew Cox Rare Books

Mathias Sandorf, Part 2
Captives of Antekritta

- Banner

Mathias Sandorf, Part 2
Captives of Antekritta

1889
Sampson Low, Marston, Searle and Rivington
London

204 pages

images and listing courtesy of James Keeline

Michael Strogoff
-Plain


Michael Strogoff
1888
Sampson Low, Marston, Searle & Rivington
London

2 parts in 1 volume

Michael Strogoff
- Banner -

Michael Strogoff
1888
Sampson Low, Marston, Searle & Rivington
London

2 parts in 1 volume

Mysterious Island, Part 1
Dropped from the Clouds

-Plain - Need Image

Dropped from the Clouds
Mysterious Island, Part 1

xxxx
Sampson Low, Marston, Searle & Rivington
London

Image courtesy of Andrew Cox Rare Books

Mysterious Island, Part 1
Dropped from the Clouds

- Banner

Note cover title change.
Mysterious Island has been added.

Mysterious Island
Dropped From the Clouds

Part 1, Mysterious Island
1889
Sampson Low, Marston, Searle & Rivington
London

187 pages

9 illustrations

Authors Illustrated Edition

image used courtesy of www.jules-verne.dk

Mysterious Island, Part 2
Abandoned

-Plain

Abandoned
Mysterious Island, Part 2
1892
Sampson Low
London
Mysterious Island, Part 2
Abandoned

- Banner

Note cover title change.
Mysterious Island has been added.

Mysterious Island, Part 2
Abandoned

1889
Sampson Low, Marston, Searle & Rivington
London

Authors Illustrated Edition

192 pages

image used courtesy of www.jules-verne.dk

Mysterious Island, Part 3
The Secret of the Island

-Plain

The Secret of the Island
Mysterious Island, Part 3

1894(?)
Sampson Low, Marston & Company
London

Author's Illustrated Edition

Translated from the French by
W. H. G. Kingston

2nd image and listing information courtesy of David Linton

Mysterious Island, Part 3
The Secret of the Island

- Banner

Note cover title change.
Mysterious Island has been added.

Mysterious Island, Part 3
The Secret of the Island
1888
Sampson Low, Marston, Searle & Rivington
London

Authors Illustrated Edition

189 pages

8 illustrations

image used courtesy of www.jules-verne.dk

Burbank the Northerner
North Against South. Part 1
A Tale of the American Civil War
-Plain

Burbank the Northerner
North Against South. Part 1
A Tale of the American Civil War
1891
Sampson Low, Marston & Company
London
Burbank the Northerner
North Against South. Part 1
A Tale of the American Civil War
- Banner - Need Image

North Against South. Part 2
Texar the Southerner
A Tale of the American Civil War

-Plain

Texar the Southerner
North Against South. Part 2
A Tale of the American Civil War

1891
Sampson Low, Marston & Company
London

also 1893 (and inscribed 1895)

"Illustrated"

14 illustrations
154 pages

information courtesy of David Linton

Collection Andrew Nash

North Against South. Part 2
Texar the Southerner
A Tale of the American Civil War

- Banner - Need Image

The Steam House, Part 1
The Demon of Cawnpore

-Plain

The Steam House, Part 1
The Demon of Cawnpore

nd (?1890)
Sampson Low, Marston & Company
London

The Steam House, Part 1
The Demon of Cawnpore

- Banner

The Steam House, Part 1
The Demon of Cawnpore

nd
Sampson Low, Marston, Searle & Rivington
London

translated from the French by A. D. Kingston

"Illustrated"

New Edition

6 illustrations

190 pages

Collection Andrew Nash

The Steam House, Part 2
Tigers and Traitors

-Plain

The Steam House, Part 2
Tigers and Traitors

1893
Sampson Low, Marston & Company
London

The Steam House, Part 2
Tigers and Traitors

- Banner

The Steam House, Part 2
Tigers and Traitors
1890

Sampson Low, Marston, Searle & Rivington
London

New Edition

AND

nd

translated from the French by A. D. Kingston

"Illustrated"

New Edition

6 illustrations

190 pages

Collection Andrew Nash

The Survivors of the Chancellor
(Parts 1 and 2
in same volume)
-Plain

The Survivors of the Chancellor
1894
Sampson Low, Marston & Company
London

Authors Illustrated Edition

image and listing information courtesy of David Linton

Collection Andrew Nash

The Survivors of the Chancellor
(Parts 1 and 2
in same volume)
- Banner

The Survivors of the Chancellor
1883
Sampson Low, Marston & Company
London

Tribulations of a Chinaman
-Plain

Tribulations of a Chinaman

Sampson Low
London
Tribulations of a Chinaman
- Banner

Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea
-Plain

Not seen, but high probability it exists.

Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea
(complete in 1 volume with 2 parts)
nd
Sampson Low, Marston, and Company, Limited
St Dunstan's House
London

Complete
Author's Edition, with Illustrations

9 illustrations

302 pages

In the middle of the book, where part 2 starts, there is NO new title page, but there is a 1 page catalogue of "Books by Jules Verne", on the reverse of that is the Frontice for part 2, and then it starts "Chapter 1, The Indian Ocean"

Collection Andrew Nash

Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea
- Banner - Need Image

The Vanished Diamond
-Plain

The Vanished Diamond
nd (inscribed xmas 1910)
Sampson Low, Marston & Company
London

179 pages

New and Cheaper Edition

images and listing courtesy of James Keeline

The Vanished Diamond
- Banner

The Vanished Diamond
1888
Sampson Low, Marston, Searle & Rivington
London

A Winter Amid the Ice
-Plain

A Winter Amid the Ice
1894
Sampson Low, Marston & Company
London

192 pages

Author's Illustrated Edition

Image 1 and listing information provided by Dana Eales

A Winter Amid the Ice
- Banner

Pears Soap questionable campaigns!

Above images courtesy of Dana Eales

Above image borrowed from: Colonialism, Soap, and the Cleansing Metaphor

Above image borrowed from: Commodity Racism and Imperial Advertising

I recieved the following email from Terry Harpold, concerning the campaigns of Pears Soap, and it describes the problem well:

July 2018, from Terry Harpold
It may be of interest to keep in mind also that Pears’ Soap’s 19th c. marketing campaign was, notoriously, one of the purest vehicles of colonialist mythologies of the unclean, dark-skinned, savage, from whose infectious dirtiness users of Pears could protect themselves by frequent washing. The Wikipedia article on Pears ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pears_(soap) ) only hints at this but the three examples they give of the ads make pretty clear what was the campaign’s underlying theory of white and black –

  • “Washing the Blackamoor White” (actually based on an Aesop’s fable of the same name)
  • “Pears’ Soap Produces Soft, White, and Beautiful Hands”
  • “The First Step Towards Lightening The White Man’s Burden is Through Teaching the Virtues of Cleanliness”

Etc. If you dig around a bit on the Internet you’ll encounter other such ads, some of which are, well, stunningly frank in their racism. When my spouse teaches colonial and postcolonial Anglophone lit she often brings in copies of these things – which are now very collectible – to show her students, who are dumbfounded.

Here’s a good book that discusses this subject in detail –  

Ramamurthy, Anandi. Imperial Persuaders: Images of Africa and Asia in British Advertising. Manchester University Press, 2003.

What I wonder is, do any of the Pears’ Verne editions include ads of this kind, and was the project to publish Verne with a Pears imprint part of a larger colonialist enterprise?

Terry Harpold
Associate Professor
University Term Professor, 2017-20
Department of English, University of Florida
http://users.clas.ufl.edu/tharpold
http://sciencefiction.group.ufl.edu
http://imagining-climate.clas.ufl.edu


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