The 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea novel with Captain Nemo as a main personage was written by Jules Verne in 1868 and first published in the Journal of Teaching and Entertainment in 1869-1870. The author hoped that this book would be one of his most successful works.

The idea of an underwater round-the-world trip seemed absolutely unrealizable to many, because submarine inventors were not very successful by that time. However, Jules Verne was positive about mankind's dream of conquering the underwater world and he was sure that his ideal submarine was not a result of morbid imagination.

After finishing the first volume of the book, which was mainly written on board of his Saint Michelle sailboat while traveling along the cost of English Channel, Verne went up to Paris by Seine to give the manuscript to the publisher. Here what he had wrote shortly before that: "I will be in Paris on October 1, dear Etzel, and if you are around you will immediately be able to read the first part of 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea. I think the book turned out well. All this must be very unexpected and unusual and of course nobody has written anything like that yet. I am sure this is completely original and hope it is good. Anyway, you will be able to judge it yourself. There are some sentimental touches, as you request, and there are some more pieces that can be added if you feel this is not enough. I will try to provide you with as many tears as you wish"

Many think that 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea had an influence on the following developments in the science of underwater navigation. Since then, the Nautilus name was given to many underwater ships all over the world. In Verne's books, Nautilus was not the only submarine. Newly designed by the author, the submarines appeared in his other novels, such as Matias Shandor, Eyes To The Standard, The Ruler Of The World.

Once the book was published, it became instantly successful among both readers and critics. In 1870, it was printed in Russian in two journals at the same time, and shortly after that was published in Moscow and St. Petersburg in four different translations. Most common was a Marko Vovchok's translation called 80,000 Kms Under The Water.

We collect various editions of the 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea book. By now, we have 4 Russian editions, 4 English editions, a French one and a Spanish one. If you can help add items to our collection please contact the management.

The text of the book is available on the Internet, for example, here (in Russian) and here (in English). Please don't forget to come back to our site!