From the Earth to the Moon; and, Round the Moon by Jules Verne

An 1865 illustrated novel, ‘From the Earth to the Moon’ by Jules Verne tells the story of the Baltimore Gun Club, which is a post-American Civil War society of weapons enthusiasts. It narrates the group members’ attempts to build an enormous Columbiad space gun and launch three people—the Gun Club’s president, his Philadelphian armor-making rival, and a French poet—in a projectile with the goal of a moon landing.