Mellonta Tauta (+Biography and Bibliography) (Glossy Cover Finish): " ON BOARD BALLOON "SKYLARK"April, 1, 2848NOW, my dear friend now, for your sins, you are to suffer the infliction of a long gossiping letter. I tell you distinctly that I am going to punish you for all your impertinences by being as tedious, as discursive, as incoherent and as unsatisfactory as possible. Besides, here I am, cooped up in a dirty balloon, with some one or two hundred of the canaille, all bound on a pleasure excursion, (what a funny idea some people have of pleasure!) and I have no prospect of touching terra firma for a month at least. Nobody to talk to. Nothing to do. When one has nothing to do, then is the time to correspond with ones friends. You perceive, then, why it is that I write you this letter it is on account of my ennui and your sins.Get ready your spectacles and make up your mind to be annoyed. I mean to write at you every day during this odious voyage. "