Physical description

Hard Cover: The Giant Raft (Part II) The Cryptogram
Author: Jules Verne
Publisher: Sampson Low, Marston, Searle & Rivington
Date: 1885
Blue hardcover book with cloth fabric cover. Original library sticker. A line drawing on the fly page is within a circle bordered by a vine plant. Within the circle is a man dressed in a suit, wearing a cravat, holding an unravelled scroll with marks like a crossword, and tugging at a vine wrapped around his neck. Title and Author written in black texter to the spine.

Publication type

fiction

Inscriptions & markings

Flyleaf has full publication details.
Label "PAT 843 VER"
Front loose end paper sticker: "Warrnambool Public Library" covered by a sticker from "Corangamite Regional Library Service"
Front loose end paper Stamped "Corangamite Regional Library Service"
Handwritten script inscription on Fly "C. L F. (or could be T.) 2/4/. (could be 2 pounds 4 shillings)"

Summary

The Giant Raft is a two part adventure novel set on the Amazon River part 1 “Eight Hundred Leagues on the Amazon” was primarily a geographical tale following the journey through tropical forests and the prairies of Peru and Brazil.
Part 2 “The Cryptogram.” The cryptogram is a cipher mystery that becomes the central theme with geographical interest subordinate to the plot. This revolves around ranch owner Joam Garral, living near the Peruvian Brazilian border and is wanted in Brazil for a crime he didn't commit. He travels downstream on a giant timber raft with his family to Belém at the river's mouth, hoping to restore his good name. A scoundrel named Torres possesses an encrypted letter that could exonerate Joam, but demands Joam's daughter's hand in marriage for it. When Torres is killed, the Garral family must race to decode the Gronsfeld cipher before Joam faces execution.