Donkey Howls at the Moon — Émile Bayard, Intorno alla Luna, Italian Edition
From the Italian edition of Jules Verne's 'Autour de la Lune' (Around the Moon), this wood-engraved plate by Émile Bayard depicts a braying donkey rearing up beneath a luminous full moon in a dramatic nocturnal farmyard scene. The illustration accompanies a passage speculating on the Moon's surface and navigation. Bayard's atmospheric cross-hatching and chiaroscuro moonlight evoke the cosmic wonder threading through Verne's scientific romance, grounding the lunar voyage narrative in earthly, rustic imagery.
More quiet countryside moonlit scene than exploding space station — closer to a hushed library with astronomy books open on the table. The sci-fi connection is entirely contextual, carried by Verne's text rather than any spectacle in the image itself.
“94 INTORNO ALLA LUNA. le terre sono divise eccessivamente. Se mai la navigazione ha esistito alla superficie della Luna, dovette essere singolarmente difficile e perigliosa, e convien compiangere i ma-”
