Flammarion was happy either way: the book, it says, has sold almost 300, 000 copies.

ECONOMIST: France��s literary sensation

Although the idea of aliens allowed writers like Flammarion to construct utopian fantasies, in others it prompted dark visions.

NEWYORKER: The Cosmic Menagerie

The idea was originally proposed in 1913 by Camille Flammarion, a French astronomer, but was postponed when war broke out.

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The book is as beautiful as its recipes, including about 200 photos in its 304 pages, and is a work of art, published by Flammarion and distributed in the US by Rizzoli.

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According to Brian Stableford, writing in the Encyclopedia of Science Fiction, the definitive reference on the genre, Camille Flammarion was the first author to present a popular fictional portrait of truly alien life-forms.

NEWYORKER: The Cosmic Menagerie