Books

Early yellowback edition, in a remarkably well-preserved example of the original binding. Verne's classic was originally serialized in France from March 1869 to June 1870 and the first English translation appeared in 1872. The eye-catchingly illustrated yellowback format flourished in Britain during the second half of the 19th century, coinciding with advancements in education and railway travel. The fragility and portability of yellowbacks, which were often sold near transport links and read on long, sooty journeys, made them unlikely to survive. Also known as as "the railway novel", the Victorian yellowback "would become the precursor to the modern day-paperback novel" (Joseph, p. 135). This yellowback edition was published by Ward, Lock, & Tyler as part of their "Jules Verne Library" series, introduced between the end of 1875 and 1876. The volumes of the series were also offered in a more expensive cloth binding. Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea appeared first in two separate volumes (part 1 and part 2) in 1876 and then in the present edition, as a combined volume. These yellowbacks were often reprinted. The present copy is undated and bears the publisher's address as Paternoster Row; this indicates that it was issued before 1878, when the publishers moved their premises to Salisbury Square. Octavo. Original yellow boards lettered in black and red, front cover illustrated with four men in deep sea diving suits attacking a giant crab, endpapers printed with adverts. Colour frontispiece and 5 similar plates. With 8 pp. advertisements at end, further advertisement slip printed in purple tipped in at rear inner hinge. Binding rubbed, spine ends and lower corners worn, front panel bright, short superficial splits to joints, but firm, faint foxing to edges, contents clean. A very good example of this famously fragile format. Not in Gallagher.

Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas is a classic science fiction novel by French writer Jules Verne, published in 1870. The story tells of Captain Nemo and the underwater adventures of his submarine, the Nautilus, as it goes around the world beneath the sea.