Other editions of book The Mysterious Island: Illustrated

The Mysterious Island is a novel by Jules Verne, published in 1874. The original edition, published by Hetzel, contains a number of illustrations by Jules Férat. The novel is a crossover sequel to Verne's famous Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea and In Search of the Castaways, though its themes are vastly different from those books. An early draft of the novel, initially rejected by Verne's publisher and wholly reconceived before publication, was titled Shipwrecked Family: Marooned With Uncle Robinson, seen as indicating the influence on the novel of Robinson Crusoe and The Swiss Family Robinson. Verne developed a similar theme in his later novel, Godfrey Morgan (French: L'École des Robinsons, 1882).

Volume 12 of 54 of Jules Verne's "Extraordinary Voyages", first printed in 1874. In Jule Verne's classic adventure novel, three travelers escape from the American Civil War and arrive by balloon on a remote island in the Pacific. At first, they are concerned with simple survival in the wilderness, but it soon becomes apparent that they are not alone on this island. This particular edition is reproduced from English-edition public works, and is presented simply with an emphasis on straightforward presentation, attractiveness and continuity of appearance, with each title in the "Extraordinary Voyages" sporting a journal-style brown cover accompanied by a cover illustration and quote from the text on the back cover.

This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the original. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions that are true to the original work.

“Are we going up again?” “No. On the contrary; we are going down!” “Worse than that, Mr. Smith, we are falling!” “For God’s sake throw over all the ballast!” “The last sack is empty!” “And the balloon rises again?” “No!” “I hear the splashing waves!” “The sea is under us!” “It is not five hundred feet off!” Then a strong, clear voice shouted:— “Overboard with all we have, and God help us!” Such were the words which rang through the air above the vast wilderness of the Pacific, towards 4 o’clock in the afternoon of the 23d of March, 1865:—

The Mysterious Island tells the exciting story of five Americans stranded on an uncharted island in the South Pacific. During the American Civil War, Richmond, Virginia was the capital of the Confederate States of America. Five northern prisoners of war decide to escape Richmond in a rather unusual way—by hijacking a balloon. After flying in stormy weather for several days, the group crash-lands on an unknown, cliff-bound, volcanic island. Ultimately, Captain Nemo plays an important role in the resolution of this novel. This edition is lavishly illustrated with twelve illustrations by James Zimmerman.

This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it.This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. To ensure a quality reading experience, this work has been proofread and republished using a format that seamlessly blends the original graphical elements with text in an easy-to-read typeface.We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.