Five Weeks in a Balloon was Jules Verne’s first published novel – he had adapted it from a work of non-fiction at the suggestion of his editor, Jules Hetzel. The novel was published in 1863, before successful balloon-air flight was accomplished. The story is pure adventure and typically Verne. It is not without its drawbacks – it is unpolished compared to some of Verne’s later works and the racism is difficult for today’s readers to accept. As a first adventure story, it was a testament as to what was to come from Verne – proving his publisher Hetzel had backed a winner. This annotated edition includes a biography and critical essay.

"A Drama in the Air" is an adventure short story by Jules Verne. The story was first published in August 1851 under the title "Science for families. A Voyage in a Balloon" in Musée des familles with five illustrations by Alexandre de Bar.

Presents a selection of Poe's tales and poems with in-depth marginal notes elucidating his sources, obscure words and passages, and literary, biographical, and historical allusions.

Jules Gabriel Verne (1828-1905) was a French author who pioneered the science-fiction genre. He is best known for novels such as Journey to the Centre of the Earth (1864), Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea (1870), and Around the World in Eighty Days (1873). Verne wrote about space, air and underwater travel before air travel and practical submarines were invented, and before practical means of space travel had been devised. He is the third most translated author in the world, according to Index Translationum. Some of his books have been made into films. Verne, along with Hugo Gernsback and H. G. Wells, is often popularly referred to as the "Father of Science Fiction." Amongst his other works are From the Earth to the Moon (1867), Five Weeks in a Balloon (1869), The Fur Country; or, Seventy Degrees North Latitude (1873), The Blockade Runners (1874), The Field of Ice (1875), The Mysterious Island (1875), Facing the Flag (1879), and An Antarctic Mystery (1899).

The annotated bibliography has evolved from an informal compilation prepared in response to many requests from military and civilian researchers who were planning balloon-borne experiments and searching for data or detailed information concerning some specific aspects of modern scientific ballooning operations. The bibliography consists of three parts: a subject index, an author index, and the bibliography with annotations.