Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea (Barnes & Noble Leatherbound Classics)

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Overview

When Professor Pierre Aronnax and harpoonist Ned Land join an expedtion to hunt a fierce "whale" that has been sinking ships, little do they expect that they will soon become captives of Captain Nemo, a self-exiled renegade who prowls the sea in his magnificent submarine, the Nautilus, seeking revenge against the civilized world that he feels has betrayed him. Aboard the Nautilus, Aronnax and Land are introduced to an undersea world that is mysterious, marvelous, and exhilirating, and have extraordinary ...
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Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea (Barnes & Noble Classics Series)

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Overview

When Professor Pierre Aronnax and harpoonist Ned Land join an expedtion to hunt a fierce "whale" that has been sinking ships, little do they expect that they will soon become captives of Captain Nemo, a self-exiled renegade who prowls the sea in his magnificent submarine, the Nautilus, seeking revenge against the civilized world that he feels has betrayed him. Aboard the Nautilus, Aronnax and Land are introduced to an undersea world that is mysterious, marvelous, and exhilirating, and have extraordinary adventures among the flora and fauna of the ocean.
 
First published in 1870 as one of Jules Verne's "Extraordinary Voyages," Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea is revered as a landmark of science fiction and a classic tale of wonder. This edition is one Barnes & Nobles leatherbound classics for young readers. It features full-color art by Milo Winter, an elegant bonded leather binding, a satin-ribbon bookmark, and distinctive gilt edging. This volume will provide hours of pleasure for readers of all ages.
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Editorial Reviews

From Barnes & Noble

Jules Verne's Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea has been enthralling audiences from the first day of its original publication in 1870. This underwater adventure has also inspired numerous movies, television shows, comic books, graphic novels, and even a tribute from a Finnish power metal rock group. It's easy to fathom why: The story of Captain Nemo, the eccentric commander of the leviathan undersea Nautilus; Professor Pierre Aronnax; harpoonist Ned Land; and others opens a portal to wonders that seem to remain forever fresh. The rich artistry of Milo Winter's illustrations enhances the immortal story.

— Rage Kindelsperger

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Product Details

  • ISBN-13: 9781435142114
  • Publisher: Sterling
  • Publication date: 9/25/2012
  • Series: Barnes & Noble Leatherbound Classics Series
  • Format: Leather Bound
  • Pages: 480
  • Sales rank: 14370
  • Product dimensions: 6.50 (w) x 8.12 (h) x 1.26 (d)

Meet the Author

Jules Verne
Jules Verne
A legendary French author and pioneer of the science fiction genre, Jules Verne wrote visionary tales of space, air, and underwater adventure in classics like Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea (1869) and Around the World in Eighty Days (1873).

Biography

The creator of the roman scientifique, the popular literary genre known today as science fiction, Jules Gabriel Verne was born in the port town of Nantes, France, in 1828. His father, Pierre, was a prominent lawyer, and his mother, Sophie, was from a successful ship-building family. Despite his father's wish that he pursue law, young Jules was fascinated by the sea and all things foreign and adventurous. Legend holds that at age eleven he ran away from school to work aboard a ship bound for the West Indies but was caught by his father shortly after leaving port. Jules developed an abiding love of science and language from a young age. He studied geology, Latin, and Greek in secondary school, and frequently visited factories, where he observed the workings of industrial machines. These visits likely inspired his desire for scientific plausibility in his writing and perhaps informed his depictions of the submarine Nautilus and the other seemingly fantastical inventions he described.

After completing secondary school, Jules studied law in Paris, as his father had before him. However, during the two years he spent earning his degree, he developed more consuming interests. Through family connections, he entered Parisian literary circles and met many of the distinguished writers of the day. Inspired in particular by novelists Victor Hugo and Alexandre Dumas (father and son), Verne began writing his own works. His poetry, plays, and short fiction achieved moderate success, and in 1852 he became secretary of the Théâtre lyrique. In 1857 he married Honorine Morel, a young widow with two children. Seeking greater financial security, he took a position as a stockbroker with the Paris firm Eggly and Company. However, he reserved his mornings for writing. Baudelaire's recently published French translation of the works of Edgar Allan Poe, as well as the days Verne spent researching points of science in the library, inspired him to write a new sort of novel: the roman scientifique. His first such novel, Five Weeks in a Balloon, was an immediate success and earned him a publishing contract with the important editor Pierre-Jules Hetzel.

For the rest of his life, Verne published an average of two novels a year; the fifty-four volumes published during his lifetime, collectively known as Voyages Extraordinaires, include his best-known works, Around the World in Eighty Days and Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea. Begun in 1865 and published to huge success in 1869, Twenty Thousand Leagues has been translated into 147 languages and adapted into dozens of films. The novel also holds the distinction of describing a submarine twenty-five years before one was actually constructed. As a tribute to Verne, the first electric and nuclear submarines were named Nautilus. In 1872 Verne settled in Amiens with his family. During the next several years he traveled extensively on his yachts, visiting such locales as North Africa, Gibraltar, Scotland, and Ireland. In 1886 Verne's mentally ill nephew shot him in the leg, and the author was lame thereafter. This incident, as well as the tumultuous political climate in Europe, marked a change in Verne's perspective on science, exploration, and industry. Although not as popular as his early novels, Verne's later works are in many ways as prescient. Touching on such subjects as the ill effects of the oil industry, the negative influence of missionaries in the South Seas, and the extinction of animal species, they speak to concerns that remain urgent in our own time.

Verne continued writing actively throughout his life, despite failing health, the loss of family members, and financial troubles. At his death in 1905 his desk drawers contained the manuscripts of several new novels. Jules Verne is buried in the Madeleine Cemetery in Amiens.

Author biography from the Barnes & Noble Classics edition of Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea.

Good To Know

In 1848, Verne got his start writing librettos for operettas.

When Verne's father found out that his son would rather write than study law, he cut him off financially, and Jules was forced to support himself as a stockbroker -- a job he hated but was fairly good at. During this period, he sought advice and inspiration from authors Alexandre Dumas and Victor Hugo.

Verne stands as the most translated novelist in the world -- 148 languages, according to UNESCO statistics.

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    1. Date of Birth:
      Fri Feb 08 00:00:00 EST 1828
    2. Place of Birth:
      Nantes, France
    1. Date of Death:
      Fri Mar 24 00:00:00 EST 1905
    2. Place of Death:
      Amiens, France
    1. Education:
      Nantes lycée and law studies in Paris

Customer Reviews

Average Rating 4
( 648 )
Rating Distribution

5 Star

(312)

4 Star

(138)

3 Star

(89)

2 Star

(39)

1 Star

(70)
See All Sort by: Showing 1 – 20 of 650 Customer Reviews

  • Anonymous

    Posted Thu Feb 09 00:00:00 EST 2006

    Don't buy this book!

    If you're going to read one of the great classics of literature¿and you should¿don't pick up this edition. It is a reprint of a version that dates back to the 1870s and was exposed more than 40 years ago for cutting nearly one-quarter of Verne's story and mistranslating much of the remainder. Lewis Mercier was the man responsible for this travesty, yet the publisher tries to conceal what they've done by claiming the translation is by an anonymous hand. An attempt is made to give the volume respectability by adding an introduction and notes by Victoria Blake¿who has no particular credentials for the task. And that leads to goofs¿for instance, she claims Verne never wrote a novel about invisibility, so she mustn't know about the author's Secret of Wilhelm Storitz. In fact, Blake's simply used the better editions that readers are advised to consult. If you want to read Verne's novel, pick up the elegant Naval Institute Press edition, in a modern, complete, updated translation, with commentary by the leading American Verne expert today, Walter James Miller. That book also comes with many of the artistic engravings that illustrated the original French first edition (no illustrations are to be found in the B&N Mercier reprint). Less attractive but more academic is the Oxford Classics version of Twenty Thousand Leagues. Either way, pick one of these to discover this novel, and don't be fooled by the appearance of respectability this book provides. This review is posted on behalf of the North American Jules Verne Society by Jean-Michel Margot, president NAJVS.

    63 out of 77 people found this review helpful.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted Sun Oct 19 00:00:00 EDT 2008

    I Also Recommend:

    The Time Machine
    Love Returns Through The Portal Of Time
    Somewhere in Time

    A TRUE CLASSIC

    I truly thought that the book had one of the best plot lines I've ever seen, reguardless of the fact that there is only slight building up to the climax. The only thing that I didn't think was that good about the book was that about every other page, Jules Verne would go into a paragraph description of the animals. For example, he would say something like: "I just saw a tuna. But not the normal tuna, it was yellow-bellied, had dorsal fins that went at a downward angle, etc." Otherwise, I thought it was a great read and well worth the money. I will be purchasing more of Jules Verne's books very soon. I highly suggest for you to read this book. Another thing, if you enjoyed watching the 1954 "20,000 Leagues Under The Sea Film," I highly suggest the book because the movie only gives a small picture of what actually occurred during their submarine venture and the book tells you everything, and the occurrences are just amazing.<BR/>The novel basically tells the story of Professor Arronax, Ned Land and Conseil who get taken aboard the Nautilus and experiences many adverntures, such as going to Atlantis, an underwater hunt, getting trapped in an ice block and much more. This book is and, IMO, always will be a true classic.

    14 out of 15 people found this review helpful.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted Thu Dec 08 00:00:00 EST 2011

    Perfect format

    This version contains foot and end notes that are easy to navigate and well formatted. Great ebook!

    11 out of 13 people found this review helpful.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted Fri Mar 02 00:00:00 EST 2012

    Lovve it

    I am only 11 Iove it this is my favorite book of all time!!!!!!!!

    9 out of 9 people found this review helpful.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted Sun Jan 22 00:00:00 EST 2012

    Anonymous

    A greatbook if you like classics. It has good end notes at in the back. It loaded quickly, too.

    8 out of 10 people found this review helpful.

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  • Posted Fri Jan 01 00:00:00 EST 2010

    I Also Recommend:

    Journey to the Center of the Earth (Barnes & Noble Classics Series)

    More than 20,000 wonders under the sea.

    The book, Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea by Jules Verne, follows the travels of Professor Pierre Aronnax and the mysterious Captain Nemo through the only frontier on Earth that though sailed by man for thousands of years, but yet unknown to us to this day, the sea. The wonders that Professor Aronnax witnesses on this under sea voyage may only be found in the realm of our imaginations, but still may for a good story that will endure for generations to come.

    7 out of 8 people found this review helpful.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted Sat Dec 24 00:00:00 EST 2011

    Great

    Its freeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

    6 out of 19 people found this review helpful.

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  • Posted Fri Jul 23 00:00:00 EDT 2010

    A True Classic, and Pleasure to Read

    This was the first Jules Verne book I've ever read, and I eagerly look forward to tackling his other works. My imagination was whisked away from the moment the hypothesized narwhale began its assaults through the final conclusions of Professor Aronnax. Certainly on more than one occasion, I was so immersed in Verne's world pictured so exquisitely, I found myself staying up late at night just so I could complete my push through events and circumstances from which I wouldn't simply walk away for the night. Honestly, while I understand the purpose of its inclusion, I could have gone for less of the scientifically-focused classification of the various fauna and flora: these passages seemed a bit tedious for my liking, and I found myself moving hastily through them. That said, the predominant bulk of this novel captured all senses as though I, too, found myself a fortunate captive of the Nautilus.

    4 out of 4 people found this review helpful.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted Sun Feb 05 00:00:00 EST 2012

    Does it get better?

    Good so far and btw whats up with all this clan crap?

    3 out of 6 people found this review helpful.

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  • Posted Sat Oct 15 00:00:00 EDT 2011

    MUST READ!

    If you have not been fortunate enough to have read Jules Verne in school, you MUST do so now. I have read this book several times, and I enjoy it each time I do so. The brilliance of Jules Verne comes through in his writing of the future. It's hard to imagine the vision necessary to portray future technology so accurately.

    3 out of 3 people found this review helpful.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted Mon May 14 00:00:00 EDT 2012

    Good book for a free classic

    A very good book, suprisingly. Does not have spelling and grammar issues, and the plot is good and not very boring. Lots of scientific facts make this book very detailed and realistic. I would recommend this book to anyone who is an adept reader with an expanded vocabulary and who loves classics. As an eleven-year-old, I feel comfortable in saying that most kids in seventh grade and up would enjoy this classic.

    2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

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  • Posted Wed Mar 28 00:00:00 EDT 2012

    more from this reviewer

    Great Story, check other editions

    I usually love the B&N collections. The introductions included are great many of the times (not always), the annotations are a great saver for the modern reader to be able to decipher most of the "dense" paragraphs that without a background knowledge cannot understand. The questions, inspired by and such sections are usually a great addition as well. And finding all of this in one neat little package is great that my library at home is filled with them. Now with that out of my chest, It's really not worth to read this version of such a great story.
    Jules Verne is known as one of the fathers of science fiction genre and justice was not done to such a great master of words in this edition.

    The story is creative, innovative and breathtaking. There are extremely long descriptions but which really allows the writer to imagine what is on the paper into a reality very clearly. The plot is interesting and the characters develops nicely, always amply supplied by mystery and intrigue. The ending is open-ended which leads to the writing of another novel, which is a must read for any science fiction lovers.

    Invest your money in buying a proper edition of this book without any omitted chapters, scenes, paragraphs and a better translation which will serve you better both personally and academically.

    2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted Tue Jan 24 00:00:00 EST 2012

    Well this was a great adventure story

    I really liked this story i found it stimulating to the imagination and didnt know what to think till the end of the book. Its a great book to read for those interested in a good adventure story. At some points it makes you think when facts are stated. The characters are understanable and kinda relateable in their situation. I think this is a book any one can enjoy. I really would recommend reading this book.

    2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted Mon Dec 26 00:00:00 EST 2011

    Is this good?

    I bet this is gonna b good!!!

    2 out of 9 people found this review helpful.

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  • Posted Wed Jul 20 00:00:00 EDT 2011

    more from this reviewer

    You speak rubbish!!!

    A classic never has flaws and deserves 5 starts. ALWAYS!

    2 out of 9 people found this review helpful.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted Tue Dec 13 00:00:00 EST 2005

    Greatness under the sea

    Twenty thousand leagues under the sea is a science fiction story of a man¿s attempt to hunt down this giant sea squid bigger than anyone has seen before. On his adventure he acquirers the help of a man named Nemo, Captain Nemo. Nemo¿s ship is not a ship at all, it¿s a submersible. At the time this book was written they did not have submarines, So they could not see under as they do now.Yet the detail of the under water sea is done very well. Although the plot was mediocre, I am going to rate this book a 4 out of 5 for imagery and attention to detail. This book is for intelligent people that enjoy the open sea and sea creatures.

    2 out of 4 people found this review helpful.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted Sat Jan 12 00:00:00 EST 2013

    Not the best

    If you like classic read this. If you don't like classics don't read it read Little Women by Louisa May Allcot that is better.
    Try it

    1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

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  • Posted Thu Jul 12 00:00:00 EDT 2012

    Twenty Thousand Leagues A Must Read at All Ages

    The one regret I have in reading Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne is that I did not read it sooner. I turned to it later in life, not having read it during my school years and have found it to be exceeding well written, inspiring, informative, and entertaining.

    Captain Nemo is a character not soon forgotten as it his submarine craft, the Nautilus. The descriptions of the ship, its inner cabins, and its mechanics is quite remarkable even today. The ability to generate electricity from the sea is something worth exploring more fully even in today’s world of natural gas, oil, wind, and solar power. The entire concept was way ahead of its time. I image that is why it is a classic.

    I not only recommend this selection as a must read, I advocate its being required reading at the high school or middle school level. It will spark the imagination of those who read and think about it and quite possibly motivate young people to explore their natural world through the studies of math and science. Overall, this is a wonderfully exciting book that is an excellent foundation for writers, thinkers, and would be scientists and adventures.

    1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted Sat Jun 16 00:00:00 EDT 2012

    Great book to read

    I think that this is a great book for middle schoolers and up. It can be a little hard to follow at times, because it is language that I am not used to. It all starts in the begining, when there is a monster roaming the seas. It crashes in to the sides of ships and causes great damage. Then a ship goes out to hunt it, bringing a french scientist who claims that it is a giant narwhale that uses its horn to crash ships. But when the "narwhale" hits there ship, it throws of the scientist, his assistant, and a harpooner, and they relise how wrong there guesses were.

    1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted Sun May 06 00:00:00 EDT 2012

    ?

    Epicly Awsome

    1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

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