Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea.

VERNE, Jules.

Item Number: 122782

London: Sampson Low, Martson, Low, & Searle, 1873.

First British edition and true first, preceding the American edition of Verne’s masterpiece. Octavo, original red cloth, illustrated, publisher’s 8 pp. advertisements as called for, all edges gilt. In very good condition with some light rubbing and wear to the extremities, armorial bookplate, small contemporary name to the title page. Translated from the French by Jules Verne. First editions are exceptionally rare, especially in this condition as most examples have been rebacked or rebound.

"Twenty Thousand Leagues owed much to the exploits of the huge experimental French submarine Le Plongeur and to the work of Verne’s friend Jacques-François Conseil, who developed a steam-driven submarine and whose surname Verne gave to Professor Arronax’s servant in the story" (Carpenter & Prichard, 557). Verne combined science and invention with fast-paced adventure. Some of Verne's fiction has also become a fact: his submarine Nautilus predated the first successful power submarine by a quarter century, and his spaceship predicted the development a century later. The first all-electric submarine, built in 1886, was named Nautilus in honor of Verne's vessel. The first nuclear-powered submarine, launched in 1955, was named Nautilus, too. The film version was produced by Walt Disney in 1954 and directed by Richard Fleischer, won an Oscar for its special effects.