Books

Madrid: Establecimiento Tipografico de Tomas Rey y Compania, 1869. First Edition. Very Good. Riou; Hildibrand. First edition in Spanish, and the earliest edition of Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea known in book form, preceding the French and English editions. Two parts in one volume, 247, 287 pp. + 2 page index, with illustrations by Riou and Hildibrand. Brown leather spine over brown pebbled cloth, floral patterned end papers. Rubbing, soiling, and light chipping to cloth. Several stains to fore edge. Pages toned, with foxing and occasional staining. One page toward rear is torn, missing the bottom quarter. Rear hinge is exposed, though binding is intact. An exceptionally rare copy of Verne's science fiction masterpiece.

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.

First editions will be in French and have been published by Pierre-Jules Hetzel with the title 'Vingt mille lieues sous les mers'. Later editions are often titled 'Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea'. The first edition in English was published in November 1872 (but is dated 1873 to the title page and the publisher’s catalogue dated as 1872) which is before the more usual American first edition published by James Osgood in Boston in 1873.