Converging Light Beams Over Paris — La Fin du Monde (Flammarion)
This illustration comes from Camille Flammarion's 1894 novel 'La Fin du Monde' (Omega: The Last Days of the World), not H.G. Wells' War of the Worlds. It depicts a Parisian skyline — with domes and bridges over the Seine, not London or St. Paul's — beneath a sky crossed by converging beams, likely representing an astronomical or cometary phenomenon central to Flammarion's apocalyptic vision. The engraving reflects the era's fascination with cosmic catastrophe as a scientific romance theme, distinct from Wells' Martian invasion narrative.
Multiple converging death rays simultaneously incinerating a recognizable world capital is gloriously over-the-top. The dramatic fan of beams against the starry sky elevates Victorian dread into pure spectacle.
