Jules Verne

HarperCollins is proud to present its new range of best-loved, essential classics. ‘From that hour we had no further occasion for the exercise of reason, or judgment, or skill, or contrivance. We were henceforth to be hurled along, the playthings of the fierce elements of the deep.’ In Verne’s science-fiction classic, Professor Lidenbrock chances upon an ancient manuscript and pledges to solve the mysterious coded message that lies within it. Eventually he deciphers the story – that of an Icelandic explorer who travels to the centre of the earth, finding his way there via a volcano. Inspired by the manuscript, The Professor is determined to follow in the explorer’s footsteps and builds a crew of men which includes his nervous nephew Axel. Together they begin their journey to the centre of the earth, facing fearsome danger and adventure at every turn.

Evocative of an era when all travel was an adventure, this timeless classic is perfectly captured by Robert Ingpen's rich and detailed illustrations Although we live in an age when round-the-world travel is possible in hours rather than weeks, Jules Verne's tale of a race against the clock has never lost its power to thrill. Set in 1872, Mr. Phileas Fogg, a gentleman of precision and predictability, and his manservant, the ever resourceful Passepartout, ride through India on an elephant, sail the South China Sea in the teeth of a typhoon, and cross the snow-covered plains of the American Wild West in order to fulfill a wager that the journey can be completed in just 80 days. The acrobatic and inquisitive Passepartout can seldom keep out of trouble. While he is pursued by irate Indian priests, drugged in an opium den, and saving a runaway train, his master's composure is never broken as the hours tick away on his precisely accurate pocket watch. But Phileas Fogg is above all a gentleman, and stopping to save the life of a beautiful young widow may have cost him his fortune. The ill-assorted but determined trio have to use all of their ingenuity and some remarkable vehicles to race back to London. Will they make it in time?

HarperCollins is proud to present its new range of best-loved, essential classics.

HarperCollins is proud to present its new range of best-loved, essential classics.

With an Introduction by Alex Dolby. Translation by W. H. G. Kingston. Jules Verne (1828-1905) is internationally famous as the author of a distinctive series of adventure stories describing new travel technologies which opened up the world and provided means to escape from it. The collective enthusiasm of generations of readers of his 'extraordinary voyages' was a key factor in the rise of modern science fiction. In The Mysterious Island a group of men escape imprisonment during the American Civil War by stealing a balloon. Blown across the world, they are air-wrecked on a remote desert island. In a manner reminiscent of Robinson Crusoe, the men apply their scientific knowledge and technical skill to exploit the island's bountiful resources, eventually constructing a sophisticated society in miniature. The book is also an intriguing mystery story, for the island has a secret.

New, superbly translated omnibus of five of Jules Verne's most renown stories." One of the best storytellers who ever lived."—Arthur C. ClarkeIn one dazzling decade, French novelist Jules Verne took readers places they'd never gone before...the age of dinosaurs...the undersea realm of Atlantis...the craters and crevices of the moon...and a whirlwind aerial tour of the planet earth! Though he penned his unforgettable yarns in French, Verne plunked big parts of them down in America. And he himself possessed an American sassiness, nerve, and sense of humor, so Americans have returned the compliment: we've released dozens of Hollywood films based on his astonishing tales, and we've created the U. S. S. Nautilus, the NASA space missions, and other technological triumphs that have turned Verne's visions into practical reality. Here are Jules Verne's best-loved novels in one convenient omnibus volume, but with a huge difference. This book features new, accurate, accessible, and unabridged translations of these five visionary classics, translations that are complete down to the smallest substantive detail, that showcase Verne's farseeing science with unprecedented clarity and accuracy, capture the wit, prankishness, and showbiz flamboyance of one of literature's leading humorists and satirists. This is a Verne almost completely unknown to Americans...yet a Verne who has an uncannily American mindset! So these heroes and happenings are part of our heritage: Phileas Fogg chugging across the wild, wild west...the impossible underground journey of Professor Lidenbrock... the deep-sea exploits of secretive Captain Nemo...and a moon shot so realistic, it inspired U. S. astronaut Frank Borman a full century later. Jules Verne was a science buff with a showbiz background, and finally these classic storiess have a translator with the same orientation: Frederick Paul Walter is one of America's foremost Verne scholars... But he's also a scriptwriter, broadcaster, and part-time fossil hunter! Enriched with dozens of classic illustrations, The Amazing Journeys of Jules Verne will be a family favorite in every home library. Jules Verne was born in 1828 into a French lawyering family in the Atlantic coastal city of Nantes. Though his father sent him off to a Paris law school, young Jules had been writing on the side since his early teens, and his pet topics were the theater, travel, and science. Predictably enough, his legal studies led nowhere, so Verne took a day job with a stock brokerage, in his off hours penning scripts for farces and musical comedies while also publishing short stories and novelettes of scientific exploration and adventure. His big breakthrough came when he combined his theatrical knack with his scientific bent and in 1863 published an African adventure yarn, Five Weeks in a Balloon. After that and till his death in 1905, Jules Verne was one of the planet's best-loved and best-selling novelists, publishing over sixty books. In addition to the five visionary classics in this volume, other imaginative favorites by him include The Mysterious Island, Hector Servadac, the Begum's Millions, Master of the World, and The Meteor Hunt. Verne ranks among the five most translated authors in history, along with Mark Twain and the Bible. Frederick Paul Walter is a scriptwriter, broadcaster, librarian, and amateur paleontologist. A Trustee of the North American Jules Verne Society, he served as its Vice President from 2000 to 20008. Walter has produced many media programs, articles, reviews, and papers on aspects of Jules Verne and has collaborated on translations and scholarly editions of three Verne novels: The Meteor Hunt, The Mighty Orinoco, and a special edition of 20,000 Leagues Under the Seas for the U. S. Naval Institute in Annapolis. Known to friends as Rick Walter, he lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Axel and his uncle find a note that describes a path to Earth's center The men climb deep inside a volcano and discover amazing wonders. They also run into danger, which could trap them below the surface forever.