Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea Jules Verne Easton Press 1977 Leather Gold

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Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea Jules Verne Easton Press 1977 Leather Gold. Jules Verne. Color Frontispiece Portrait of Jules Verne (1828–1905). ▽ 1977 FIRST PRINTING · GENUINE LEATHER · 22KT GOLD GILT Easton Press Collector's Edition from the "100 Greatest Books Ever Written" series · Full wine-red leather with elaborate gilt whale-and-fish pattern · Hubbed spine with raised bands · All edges gilt · Heirloom-grade. Enlightening Minds · Easton Press · 100 Greatest Books Ever Written The Easton Press · Norwalk, Connecticut · 1977 Genuine Full Leather · 22kt Gold Gilt · AEG VG · 325 Pages · Collector's Edition Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea Jules Verne The English Version Made from the French by Mercier Lewis A New Introduction by Fletcher Pratt · Illustrations by Edward A. Wilson Originally Published in French in 1870 as Vingt Mille Lieues Sous les Mers ▽ ▽ ▽ ▽ 1977 FIRST PRINTING · GENUINE LEATHER · 22KT GOLD GILT Easton Press Collector's Edition from the "100 Greatest Books Ever Written" series · Full wine-red leather with elaborate gilt whale-and-fish pattern · Hubbed spine with raised bands · All edges gilt · Heirloom-grade ▽ Easton Press Edition Specifications ▽ Genuine Full Leather Binding — deep wine-red leather over boards, not bonded 22kt Gold Gilt Decoration — striking repeating whale-and-fish pattern stamped diagonally across the front and back covers; gilt border frame Hubbed Spine with Four Raised Bands — traditional fine-binding construction with gilt fish/whale ornaments in each spine panel All Edges Gilt (AEG) — top, fore, and bottom page edges in gold gilt Silk Moire Endpapers — front and rear, with matching paste-downs Sewn-In Satin Ribbon Marker Smyth-Sewn Binding — traditional sewn signatures, opens flat Acid-Neutral Archival Paper — milled to fine-press permanence standards Color Frontispiece Portrait of Jules Verne (1828–1905) Illustrations by Edward A. Wilson — color plates, in-text drawings New Introduction by Fletcher Pratt English Translation by Mercier Lewis (see translation note below) 325 Pages · Octavo (approximately 10½ × 7¼ inches) ▽ Translation Note · For Verne Readers This Easton Press edition uses the historical Mercier Lewis English translation (the pseudonym of Lewis Page Mercier, 1809–1888) — the standard nineteenth-century English version of Verne's text and the one used by Heritage Press in 1956 and reused by Easton Press in 1977. For full transparency: modern Verne scholarship has been substantially critical of the Mercier translation. It is heavily abridged (cutting approximately 22% of Verne's original French text), contains scientific and technical errors, and removes much of Verne's social and political commentary. Easton Press collectors typically value this volume for its binding, not the translation. Readers interested primarily in Verne's text rather than the collector's binding are usually directed to more recent translations — notably Walter James Miller's The Annotated Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, William Butcher's Oxford World's Classics translation, or F.P. Walter's restoration translation, all of which present the complete unabridged text. This edition is offered as the Easton Press collectible it is. Buyers should evaluate accordingly based on their purpose — binding-and-set collection vs. reading copy. About the Work Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea (Vingt Mille Lieues Sous les Mers, 1870) is Jules Verne's classic of early science fiction — the voyage of the marine biologist Professor Pierre Aronnax, his faithful servant Conseil, and the Canadian harpooner Ned Land aboard the Nautilus, the technologically advanced submarine commanded by the enigmatic and ferocious Captain Nemo. What begins as an expedition to hunt a mysterious "sea monster" disrupting Atlantic shipping becomes a year-long voyage of involuntary passengers through coral reefs, sunken cities, polar seas, and the abyssal depths — and a confrontation with Nemo's mysterious origins and his vendetta against the surface world. Published serially in Magasin d'Éducation et de Récréation beginning in 1869 and as a complete book in 1870, the novel is one of Verne's most influential works and a foundational text in the history of science fiction. The Nautilus — electrically powered, capable of remaining submerged indefinitely, equipped with a library, a salon, and an organ — anticipated submarine technology by decades and remains one of the most recognizable vessels in literature. Captain Nemo himself, whose backstory Verne would later reveal in The Mysterious Island (1874), is among the most studied complex antiheroes of nineteenth-century fiction. The Easton Press 1977 edition is part of the publisher's flagship 100 Greatest Books Ever Written series and reproduces the text in the historical Mercier Lewis English translation alongside the well-known Edward A. Wilson illustrations originally produced for the Heritage Press 1956 edition. Did You Know? The illustrations, introduction, and translation in this Easton Press edition were not newly commissioned for 1977 — they were originally assembled for the Heritage Press 1956 edition of Twenty Thousand Leagues, edited by George Macy's publishing family of imprints (Heritage Press, the Limited Editions Club, and others). When Easton Press launched its 100 Greatest Books Ever Written series in the mid-1970s, the press licensed substantial content from the Heritage Press / LEC catalog — Edward A. Wilson's illustrations, Fletcher Pratt's introduction, and the Mercier Lewis translation — and reissued them in their luxury leather format. This pattern explains why many Easton Press 100 Greatest titles share their core textual and illustrative content with earlier Heritage Press cloth editions; Easton Press's premium value comes from the binding, paper, and physical production specifications rather than from new editorial work. About the Contributors Jules Verne (1828–1905) was the French novelist who, alongside H.G. Wells, is widely credited as one of the founding figures of modern science fiction. Working from Amiens and Paris, he produced the Voyages Extraordinaires — a series of more than fifty novels published over four decades by Pierre-Jules Hetzel — including Journey to the Center of the Earth (1864), From the Earth to the Moon (1865), Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea (1870), Around the World in Eighty Days (1872), and The Mysterious Island (1874). Verne is among the most-translated authors in the world. Fletcher Pratt (1897–1956) was an American writer and historian best known for his naval-war histories (particularly on the Civil War navies and World War II) and for his collaborations with L. Sprague de Camp on science fiction and fantasy. He was a member of the Trap Door Spiders literary society in New York. Edward A. Wilson (1886–1970) was an American illustrator and bookplate designer whose work appeared in many Heritage Press and Limited Editions Club volumes throughout the 1930s, '40s, and '50s; his Verne illustrations were among his most enduring contributions. ▽ ▽ ▽ 🌊 The Nautilus & NemoVerne's 1870 epic of the submarine, the Captain, and the depths. 📕 Wine-Red Leather BindingFull deep-red leather with elaborate 22kt gold gilt whale-and-fish design. ✨ 22kt Gold Gilt · AEGRepeating whale pattern on covers, gilt titles on spine, all edges gilt. 🎨 Edward A. Wilson IllustrationsColor plates and in-text drawings, originally produced for Heritage Press 1956. 📖 Fletcher Pratt IntroductionBy the American naval historian and science fiction author (1897–1956). 📚 100 Greatest Books SeriesAmong the early titles in Easton Press's flagship collector series. Title Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea Original Title Vingt Mille Lieues Sous les Mers (1870) Author Jules Verne (1828–1905) Original Publisher Pierre-Jules Hetzel, Paris Publisher The Easton Press Location Norwalk, Connecticut Year 1977 (First Printing) Series The 100 Greatest Books Ever Written Edition Collector's Edition · Bound in Genuine Leather Format Full Leather Hardcover · No Dust Jacket Issued Pages 325 Dimensions Octavo · ~10½ × 7¼ inches Translator Mercier Lewis (Lewis P. Mercier) Translation Note Historical 19th-c. abridged version — see note above Introduction Fletcher Pratt (American, 1897–1956) Illustrator Edward A. Wilson (American, 1886–1970) Binding Smyth-Sewn · Hubbed Spine · Four Raised Bands Edges All Edges Gilt (AEG) · 22kt Gold Endpapers Silk Moire (front and rear) Bookmark Satin Ribbon · Sewn-in Content Origin Heritage Press 1956 (licensed for Easton Press) ISBN None Issued (Subscriber Edition) Genre Science Fiction · Adventure · 19th-c. French Lit Condition VG · See Notes ⚠ Condition — Very Good (VG) · 1977 First Printing 1977 First Printing of the Easton Press Collector's Edition Full wine-red leather binding — clean, supple, no scratches, rubs, or cracking 22kt gold gilt cover and spine decoration — bright, intact, fully present Four raised bands on the spine — sharp and intact Silk moire endpapers — clean, no toning Satin ribbon marker — present and intact Binding is tight and square — opens cleanly, no looseness Pages are clean and crisp — no creases, no toning No writing, highlighting, bookplate, or prior-owner marks Some spots / light foxing visible on the gold gilt at the top page edge (AEG) — limited to the top edge; the gilt is intact and not flaking Sold as-is; all flaws fully disclosed — please review photos before purchase Ideal For Easton Press Collectors 100 Greatest Books Ever Written Set Builders Leather-Bound Book Collectors Jules Verne Bibliography Early Science Fiction Collectors Edward A. Wilson Illustration Collectors Fletcher Pratt Bibliography Heritage Press · LEC Cross-Collectors Heirloom Library Builders Premium Literary Gifts 1977 First Printing Collectors 19th-c. French Literature in Translation Fine Press & Subscriber Edition Collectors ▽ ▽ ▽ ENLIGHTENING MINDS · SAME OR NEXT BUSINESS DAY SHIPPING · ALL FLAWS DISCLOSED · QUESTIONS WELCOME