Jules Verne's Carpathian Castle Frontispiece by Léon Benett, 1892
Projecting a ghostly apparition as a form of proto-holographic illusion technology, this dramatic frontispiece depicts the supernatural mystery at the heart of Jules Verne's gothic science fiction novel. A luminous spectral figure rises from rocky terrain as armed villagers recoil in terror beneath a Carpathian castle looming in darkness above. The scene captures Verne's concept of recorded image projection — an early fictional treatment of what we might now call holography — used to deceive and terrify superstitious villagers.
A glowing ghost rising from the rocks while armed men scramble in panic under a spooky castle — Verne really knows how to set a scene! I'd read this in one sitting with a candle burning low.
“JULES VERNE LE CHÂTEAU DES CARPATHES”
