Search Worlds Without End

In the somnolent Flemish town of Quiquendone disagreements are unheard of, courtships might last a decade and not a ripple of activity can be seen at all. But when the mysterious Dr Ox is tasked with providing lighting for the town, strange things begin to happen: animals become aggressive, fruits grow huge in size, plants climb more vigorously and tempers flare up, leading the once phlegmatic townsfolk to bitter confrontations and pushing them to the brink of all-out violence.

Verne, the acclaimed author of immortal tales of adventure and early science fiction, can be seen here in a different light, regaling readers of all ages with a light-hearted satire that, in its warnings about the dangers of scientific experimentation, has a clear and troubling resonance with our times.

"In the Year 2889," which was first published in 1889, portrays a futuristic day in the life of a 20th century newspaper editor. Much of the story sounds like an episode of "The Jetsons." For example, a man is clothed by a mechanical dresser before being whisked off to work. The story, which is set in New York City (now called Centropolis), delves into what the future world might look like, including technological advancements, international relations, and social mores.

First published n 1889 under the name of Jules Verne, "In the Year 2889" may be chiefly the work of Jules Verne's son, Michel Verne. Michel, who was in charge of publishing his father's work late in Jules Verne's life, may have had financial motivation to utilize his Jules Verne's well-known pen name. Regardless of actual authorship, many of the topics covered in "In the Year 2889" echo the ideas of Jules Verne, and the tenor of the book is generally in keeping with Jules Verne's optimistic view of future possibilities.

Has also appeared under the titles: In the Twentyninth Century: A Day in the Life of an American Jounalist in 2889 and In the 29th Century.

THE LITERARY DISCOVERY OF THE CENTURY

In 1863 Jules Verne, famed author of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea and Around the World in Eighty Days, wrote a novel that his literary agent deemed too farfetched to be published. More than one hundred years later, his great-grandson found the handwritten, never-before published manuscript in a safe. That manuscript was Paris in the Twentieth Century, an astonishingly prophetic view into the future by one of the most renowned science fiction writers of all time...

The novel is set in Paris in 1960. Money and technology have taken over society and the narrator, a young poet, is forced to work in a bank. Verne's vision of our mechanized time is prescient: there are fax machines, automobiles, computers, subways, and electronic musical instruments.

Back from the dead: the first ever zombie story

Before there was Dracula, there was The Castle in Transylvania. In its first new translation in over 100 years, this is the first book to set a gothic horror story, featuring people who may or may not be dead, in Transylvania.

In a remote village cut off from the outside world by the dark mountains of Transylvania, the townspeople have come to suspect that supernatural forces must be responsible for the menacing apparitions emanating from the castle looming over them.

But a visiting young count scoffs at their fears. He vows to liberate the villagers by pitting his reason against the forces of superstition--until he sees his dead beloved walking the halls of the castle....

Miner James Starr, after receiving a letter from an old friend, leaves for the Aberfoyle mine. Although believed to be mined out a decade earlier, James Starr finds a mine overman, Simon Ford, along with his family living deep inside the mine. Simon Ford has found a large vein of coal but must deal with mysterious and unexplainable happenings in and around the mine.

Table of Contents:

• Introduction (Yesterday and Tomorrow) - (1964) - essay by I. O. Evans
• The Eternal Adam - (1957) - novelette by Jules Verne and Michel Verne (1910)
• The Fate of Jean Morénas - (1964) - shortstory by Jules Verne and Michel Verne (1910)
• An Ideal City - (1964) - shortstory by Jules Verne (1875)
• Ten Hours Hunting - (1964) - shortstory by Jules Verne (1881)
• Frritt-Flacc - (1959) - shortstory by Jules Verne (1884)
• Gil Braltar - (1958) - shortstory by Jules Verne (1887)
• In the Twentyninth Century: A Day in the Life of an American Journalist in 2889 - (1891) - shortstory by Jules Verne
• Mr. Ray Sharp and Miss Me Flat - (1964) - shortstory by Jules Verne (1893)

Written almost a century before the daring flights of the astronauts, Jules Verne's prophetic novel of man's race to the stars is a classic adventure tale enlivened by broad satire and scientific acumen.

When the members of the elite Baltimore Gun Club find themselves lacking any urgent assignments at the close of the Civil War, their president, Impey Barbicane, proposes that they build a gun big enough to launch a rocket to the moon. But when Barbicane's adversary places a huge wager that the project will fail and a daring volunteer elevates the mission to a "manned" flight, one man's dream turns into an international space race.

After being fired out of the giant Columbiad space gun, the bullet-shaped projectile along with its three passengers, Barbicane, Nicholl and Michel Ardan, begins the five-day trip to the moon.

"The Purchase Of The North Pole" is the sequel to "From the Earth to the Moon", set twenty years later.

Some members of the Baltimore Gun Club have purchased large tracts of land around the North Pole, but for what reason? Their plan is shortly thereafter revealed to the world: using the same mechanics of their cannon which propelled them on their Moon Journey, these members of the Baltimore Gun Club planned to tilt the Earth's axis in order to establish a more stable climate for the world. Can their grandoise plan succeed?

Also published as Topsy-Turvy.

An American frigate, tracking down a ship-sinking monster, faces not a living creature but an incredible invention -- a fantastic submarine commanded by the mysterious Captain Nemo. Suddenly a devastating explosion leaves just three survivors, who find themselves prisoners inside Nemo's death ship on an underwater odyssey around the world from the pearl-laden waters of Ceylon to the icy dangers of the South Pole . . .as Captain Nemo, one of the greatest villians ever created, takes his revenge on all society.

More than a marvelously thrilling drama, this classic novel, written in 1870, foretells with uncanny accuracy the inventions and advanced technology of the twentieth century and has become a literary stepping-stone for generations of science fiction writers.

At a time when Verne is making a comeback in the US as a mainstream literary figure, Wesleyan is pleased to publish a new translation of one of his best-known novels, The Mysterious Island. Although several editions under the same title are in print, most reproduce a bowdlerized nineteenth-century translation which changes the names of the characters, omits several important scenes, and ideologically censors Verne's original text.

The Mysterious Island was published in 1874, and it is one of Verne's longest novels.

The books is based on the true story of Alexander Selkirk, who survived alone for almost five years on an uninhabited island off the coast of Chile.

The book tells the adventures of five Americans on an uncharted island in the South Pacific. The story begins in the American Civil War, during the siege of Richmond, Virginia. As famine and death ravage the city, five northern prisoners of war decide to escape by the unusual means of hijacking a balloon.

After flying in stormy weather for several days, the group crash-lands on a cliff-bound, volcanic, unknown island. They name it Lincoln Island. With the knowledge of the brilliant engineer Smith, the five are able to sustain themselves on this fantastic island of bewildering goings-on, as they strive to uncover the island's many secrets.

A marvelous adventure story, The Mysterious Island is also notable for its modern retelling of the utopian deserted-island myth, with repeated echoes of Robinson Crusoe and the Swiss Family Robinson. This Wesleyan edition features notes, appendices and an introduction by Verne scholar William Butcher, as well as reproductions of the illustrations from the original French edition.

The discovery of a falling golden meteor and the race to find it form the core of this exciting tale from the master of science fiction, Jules Verne. An asteroid wanders into the earth's gravitational field and is spotted by two rival Virginia astronomers. The discovery becomes a worldwide sensation when it is announced that the asteroid is solid gold and is plummeting toward earth.

The approaching disaster is brought on by the machinations of the brilliant but absent-minded French scientist and inventor Zephyrin Xirdal. Xirdal has invented a ray with which he pulls the golden asteroid from orbit and hopes to guide it to crash at a spot of his choosing. Xirdal, the two Virginia astronomers and their families, and representatives from many nations race to find and claim the golden meteor.

The Chase of the Golden Meteor is vintage Verne, artfully blending hard science and scientific speculation with a farcical comedy of manners. This unabridged edition will be sure to delight Verne's legion of fans and attract new ones.

It was one of the last novels written by the prolific French hard science fiction pioneer and was only published in 1908, three years after his death. It is one of seven such posthumous novels, many of which were extensively edited by his son. Verne himself first wrote "La Chasse au météore" in 1901 and then rewrote it before his death. Michel Verne is known to have emphasised the romantic sub plot of this novel and expanded it from 17 to 21 chapters, among other changes.

The Meteor Hunt marks the first English translation from Jules Verne's own text of his delightfully satirical and visionary novel. While other, questionable versions of the novel have appeared--mainly, a significantly altered text by Verne's son Michel and translations of it--this edition showcases the original work as Verne wrote it.

The Meteor Hunt is the story of a meteor of pure gold careening toward the earth and generating competitive greed among amateur astronomers and chaos among nations obsessed with the trajectory of the great golden object. Set primarily in the United States and offering a humorous critique of the American way of life, The Meteor Hunt is finally given due critical treatment in the translators' foreword, detailed annotations, and afterword, which clearly establish the historical, political, scientific, and literary context and importance of this long-obscured, genre-blending masterpiece in its true form.

The First English Translation of Verne's Original Manuscript...

At the extreme tip of South America, Staten Island has piercing Antarctic winds, lonely coasts assaulted by breakers, and sailors lost as their vessels smash on the dark rocks. Now that civilization dares to rule here, a lighthouse penetrates the last and wildest place of all. But Vasquez, the guardian of the sacred light, has not reckoned with the vicious, desperate Kongre gang, who murder his two friends and force him out into the wilderness. Alone, without resources, can he foil their cruel plans?

A gripping tale of passion and perseverance, Verne's testament novel paints a compelling picture of intrigue and heroism, schemes and calamities. The master storyteller returns here to the theme of civilization against its two oldest enemies: pitiless nature and men's savagery.

The First English Translation of Verne's Original Manuscript...

The Golden Volcano thrusts two Canadian cousins--unexpectedly bequeathed a mining claim in the Klondike--into the middle of the gold rush, where they encounter disease, disaster, extremes of weather, and human nature twisted by a passion for gold. A deathbed confidence sends the two searching for a fabulous gold-filled volcano on the shore of the Arctic Ocean. But nature, both human and physical, hasn't finished with them, and their story plays out with the nail-biting adventure of an action thriller and the moral and emotional force of high drama.

Like many of the works left unpublished when Jules Verne died, The Golden Volcano was altered and edited by his son, Michel. This first translation from the original manuscript allows readers of English to rediscover the pleasures of Verne's storytelling in its original form--and to enjoy a virtually unknown gem of action, adventure, and style from a master of French literature.

The First English Translation of Verne's Original Manuscript.

Widely rumored to exist, then circulated in a corrupt form, Jules Verne's final and arguably most daring and hauntingly beautiful novel--his own "invisible man"--appears here for the first time in a faithful translation. Readers of English can rediscover the pleasures of Verne's storytelling in its original splendor and enjoy a virtually unknown gem of action, adventure, and style from a master of French literature.

Wilhelm Storitz, the son of a famous Prussian scientist (and possessor of his father's secrets--even, perhaps, a formula that confers invisibility), vows revenge on the family that has denied him the love of his life, Myra Roderich. Wilhelm's actions on the eve of Myra's wedding unfold in a surprising and sinister way, leading to an ending that will astonish the reader.

Like many works left unpublished when Jules Verne died, The Secret of Wilhelm Storitz was prepared and edited by his son, Michel. After a century of obscurity, this unique work in Verne's oeuvre is finally in the hands of readers, in a fine, authentic translation.

The first English translation of Magellania, a unique, forceful novel that widens the scope of Verne's literary legacy and distinguishes itself in Verne's somber, philosophical questioning of society, religion, nature and man as he neared the end of his life.

Magellania--the region around the Strait of Magellan--is the home of Kaw-djer, a mysterious man of Western origin whom the indigenous people consider a demigod. A man whose motto is "Neither God nor master," he has shunned Western civilization and its hypocrisies in order to live peacefully on an island claimed by no one. But when a storm strands a thousand immigrants on his island and they ask him to be the leader of their colony, Kaw-djer must decide whether to help them live and prosper in this foreign land at the end of the world or leave them to their fate.

The first complete English translation of Jules Verne's epic fantasy novel. The Full Text of The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym by Edgar Allan Poe is also included.

Decades after Edgar Allan Poe's longest and weirdest tale, The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym, was published--the protagonist disappearing into the misty, mystifying Antarctic seas; his fate unknown--Jules Verne took up the challenge to answer what had happened to him.

In The Sphinx of the Ice Realm, he penned the most amazing journey of his fabled career: a voyage across the bottom of the world! An astonishing mix of manhunt, sea story, scientific speculation, and polar nightmare, Verne's epic fantasy novel appears here for the first time as a new and complete translation by noted Verne expert Frederick Paul Walter. The book is a treat for any fan of science fiction and fantasy, and includes many fascinating notes for students and scholars alike. In addition, the book features a complete, reader-friendly rendition of the original Poe tale that sparked Verne's uniquely imaginative response.

The story has also been published under various titles: The Sphinx of the Ice Fields, An Antarctic Mystery, The Sphnix of the Ice.

Robur the Conqueror is a science fiction novel by Jules Verne. The story begins with strange lights and sounds, including blaring trumpet music, reported in the skies all over the world. The events are capped by the mysterious appearance of black flags with gold suns atop tall historic landmarks such as the Statue of Liberty in New York, the Great Pyramid of Giza in Egypt, and the Eiffel Tower in Paris. These events are all the work of the mysterious Robur (Latin for "oak"), a brilliant inventor who intrudes on a meeting of a flight-enthusiast's club called the Weldon Institute in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Read a tale of one of the original evil inventors - the genius Robur - who, like his successors, wants to take over the world. The key to Robur's power lies in his latest invention, a vehicle called The Terror. It can travel by land, air, or sea, reaching such speed that it can only be seen as a blur. John Strock, federal police officer, is assigned to investigate. But he soon finds that stopping Robur is more difficult than he bargained on!

Written in 1904, this novel by the pioneering science fiction writer Jules Verne will delight anyone who likes a flight of fancy with their adventure.

The story starts with a comet called Gallia, that touches the Earth in its flight and collects a few small chunks of it. The disaster occurs on January 1 around Gibraltar. On the territory that is carried away by the comet there remain a total of thirty-six people of French, English, Spanish and Russian nationality. These people do not realize at first what has happened, and consider the collision an earthquake. During a new collision of the comet with Earth two years later, the castaways return to earth in a balloon they put together.

This novel has has also been split into two parts: To the Sun? & Off on a Comet!

One of Jules verne's most exciting and prophetic science-fiction adventures has been altogether unknown to English-speaking readers until the publication of the present translation. This was the long novel Verne called The Astonishing Adventure of the Barsac Mission, the first book of which is Into The Niger Bend. An adventure novel as well as a novel of mystery and intrigue, this unusual story brings a group of daring men into the unexplored heart of Africa. Their experiences on their scientific quest under increasingly strange circumstances wil inevitably remind readers of the works of H. Rider Haggard and other masters of jungle novels.

The second book of a two book series called "The Astonishing Adventure of the Barsac Mission" about a group of Frenchmen & an Englishwoman traveling in Africa who're captured by a leader of a criminal group who have a secret oasis city in the desert.

First part of La maison à vapeur (1880).

Steam engines, steam vessels... why not steam land cars? Such was Jules Verne's thinking in the Age of Steam, the fabulous century of invention that paved the way for the present. And if a steam car, why not use it for exploration, for adventure and daring deeds?

And what more exotic, more adventurous place than India, the vast sub-continent of rajahs and temples and weird cults - and in Verne's time also a seething rebel-torn colony of the Victoria's Empire?

So developed Verne's marvelous adventure novel of the steam elephant, of a courageous English colonel seeking refuge and revenge, and of the steam-driven jungle caravan that took him and his band into the very heart of India's unexplored mysteries.

Second part of La maison à vapeur (1880).

Trailers and luxury travellers were ideas that Jules Verne dreamed up a century before our time...and wrote them into the most exotic scenery and the most exciting adventures.

Consider Colonel Munro's marvelous steam elephant that pulled a train of palatial houses-on-wheels through the deepest jungles of India. Add a land beset with internal chaos, banditry, and rebellious local chieftians, and you have the grounds for one of Verne's most exciting novels.

Such is Tigers and Traitors, a novel packed with such wonders as a terrifying tiger hunt, a mysterious white goddess, a fight against rampaging elephants, and the pursuit of the steam caravan by an army of furious fanatics. It's fast-paced science-fiction adventure.

A Journey of Discovery by Three Englishmen in Africa.

One of the great "first novels" in world literature is now available in a complete, accurate English translation. Prepared by two of America's leading Verne scholars, Frederick Paul Walter and Arthur B. Evans, this edition honors not only Verne's farseeing science, but also his zest, style, and storytelling brilliance.

Initially published in 1863, Five Weeks in a Balloon was the first novel in the author's Extraordinary Voyages series. It tells the tale of a 4,000-mile balloon trip over the mysterious continent of Africa, a trip that wouldn't actually take place until well into the next century. Fusing adventure, comedy, and science fiction, Five Weeks has all the key ingredients of classic Verne: sly humor and cheeky characters, an innovative scientific invention, a tangled plot that's full of suspense and surprise, and visions of an unknown realm.

As part of the Early Classics of Science Fiction series, this critical edition features extensive notes, all the illustrations from the original French edition, and a complete Verne biography and bibliography. Five Weeks in a Balloon will be a prized addition to libraries and science fiction reading lists, and a must-read for Verne fans and steampunk connoisseurs.

A classic of nineteenth-century French literature, this science fiction tale delves into the depths of the Earth, and by so doing, reveals the staggeringly long history of our planet.

Phileas Fogg is a rich English gentleman living in solitude. Despite his wealth, Fogg lives a modest life with habits carried out with mathematical precision. Very little can be said about his social life other than that he is a member of the Reform Club. Having dismissed his former valet, James Foster, for bringing him shaving water at 84 °F (29 °C) instead of 86 °F (30 °C), Fogg hires a Frenchman by the name of Jean Passepartout as a replacement.

At the Reform Club, Fogg gets involved in an argument over an article in The Daily Telegraph stating that with the opening of a new railway section in India, it is now possible to travel around the world in 80 days. He accepts a wager for £20,000 (equal to about £1.6 million today) from his fellow club members, which he will receive if he makes it around the world in 80 days. Accompanied by Passepartout, he leaves London by train at 8:45 P.M. on Wednesday, October 2, 1872, and is due back at the Reform Club at the same time 80 days later, Saturday, December 21, 1872.

When two European scientists unexpectedly inherit an Indian rajah's fortune, each builds an experimental city of his dreams in the wilds of the American Northwest. France-Ville is a harmonious urban community devoted to health and hygiene, the specialty of its French founder, Dr. François Sarrasin. Stahlstadt, or City of Steel, is a fortress-like factory town devoted to the manufacture of high-tech weapons of war. Its German creator, the fanatically pro-Aryan Herr Schultze, is Verne's first truly evil scientist. In his quest for world domination and racial supremacy, Schultze decides to showcase his deadly wares by destroying France-Ville and all its inhabitants.

Both prescient and cautionary, The Begum's Millions is a masterpiece of scientific and political speculation and constitutes one of the earliest technological utopia/dystopias in Western literature. This Wesleyan edition features notes, appendices, and a critical introduction as well as all the illustrations from the original French edition.

This work has also been published under the name The Begum's Fortune.

The descriptions of the quaint villagers of Werst, their costumes, manner of living, and belief in the supernatural world would in themselves prove an interesting narrative, but when coupled with the exciting adventures of Nic Deck, the two Counts, the cowardly Doctor, and the beautiful La Stilla, the story is undoubtedly one of the most enchanting ever offered. This mysterious tale takes place in the area which in just a few years would become known as Dracula's homeland. Jules Verne has the knack of it. He knows how to make the scientifically romantic story. You might not know what a "nyctalop" was, but if you saw one flapping his wings around the dark fortress in the Carpathians, you would run for it, as did Nic Deck. Orfanik is head conjurer, and in his trial he explains how he brought into play for a wicked purpose a variety of ingenious inventions. Includes unique illustrations!

The Self-Propelled Island is the first unabridged English translation of Jules Verne's original story featuring a famous French string quartet that is abducted by an American businessman and taken to Standard Island to perform for its millionaire inhabitants. The quartet soon discovers that Standard Island is not an island at all, but an immense, futuristic ship possessing all the features of an idyllic haven. Equipped with the most opulent amenities, Standard Island travels the Pacific Ocean, traversing the south archipelagos and stopping at many "sister" islands for the pleasure of its well-heeled inhabitants. These inhabitants soon meet with the danger, in its various forms, that is inherent in ocean travel. Meanwhile, the French quartet is witness to the rivalry that exists between the two most powerful families onboard, a rivalry that keeps the future of the island balancing on the edge of a knife.

First published in English in 1896 as The Floating Island, or The Pearl of the Pacific, the novel was originally censored in translation. Dozens of pages were cut from the story because English translators felt they were too critical of Americans as well as the British. Here, for the first time, readers have the pleasure of reading The Self-Propelled Island as Verne intended it.

"Facing the Flag" is one of the earliest stories dealing with a very modern theme: the development of weapons of mass destruction, and the international community's attempts to reconcile this. Thomas Roch, a celebrated inventor, has supposedly created a weapon so devastating that he demands enormous amounts of money to contract it to the nations of the world. However, his acclamations are not only heard by the sovereign nations; his superweapon is also intently sought after by a villianous mind, striking from his secret island fortress...

First English edition of a classic Verne adventure, with a unique feminist twist.

Jules Verne (1828-1905) was the first author to popularize the literary genre of science fiction. Written in 1898 and part of the author's famous series Voyages Extraordinaires, The Mighty Orinoco tells the story of a young man's search for his father along the then-uncharted Orinoco River of Venezuela. The text contains all the ingredients of a classic Verne scientific-adventure tale: exploration and discovery, humor and drama, dastardly villains and intrepid heroes, and a host of near-fatal encounters with crocodiles, jungle fever, Indians and outlaws -- all set in a wonderfully exotic locale. The Mighty Orinoco also includes a unique twist that will appeal to feminists -- readers will need to discover it for themselves. This Wesleyan edition features notes, and a critical introduction by renowned Verne scholar Walter James Miller, as well as reproductions of the illustrations from the original French edition.

Deepest Africa... mysterious lights... an attack by enraged elephants... a lost race of ape-men... and an unknown kingdom ruled by a mystic monarch... An action-packed adventure novel by Jules Verne - the author that foresaw the submarine and the airplane - that takes you deep into the exotic Africa.

Castaways on a barren island in the South Seas, Karl and Pieter Kip are rescued by the brig James Cook. After helping to quell an onboard mutiny, however, they suddenly find themselves accused and convicted of the captain's murder. In this story, one of his last Voyages Extraordinaires, Verne interweaves an exciting exploration of the South Pacific with a tale of judicial error reminiscent of the infamous Dreyfus Affair. This Wesleyan edition brings together the first English translation with one of the first detailed critical analyses of the novel, and features all the illustrations from the original 1902 publication.

Nine students from London's Antillean School receive travel scholarships to visit their island homelands in the Caribbean. Accompanied by their eccentric Latin professor, they set sail on what they expect to be a thrilling educational voyage. Little do they realize that, prior to their arrival on board, their ship had been hijacked by escaped convicts who murdered its original captain and crew. This is the only novel by the legendary Jules Verne that has never been available in English until now. Although ostensibly written for an adolescent audience, its suspense-filled plot, sophisticated narrative style, and critique of European colonialism make it an engrossing read for all ages.

Jules Verne, celebrated French author of Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea and Around the World in 80 Days, wrote over 60 novels collected in the popular series "Voyages Extraordinaires." A handful of these have never been translated into English, including Invasion of the Sea, written in 1904 when large-scale canal digging was very much a part of the political, economic, and military strategy of the world's imperial powers.

Instead of linking two seas, as existing canals (the Suez and the Panama) did, Verne proposed a canal that would create a sea in the heart of the Sahara Desert. The story raises a host of concerns -- environmental, cultural, and political. The proposed sea threatens the nomadic way of life of those Islamic tribes living on the site, and they declare war. The ensuing struggle is finally resolved only by a cataclysmic natural event.

This Wesleyan edition features notes, appendices and an introduction by Verne scholar Arthur B. Evans, as well as reproductions of the illustrations from the original French edition.