The English at the North Pole was originally published in 1864, being begun even before Verne's Journey to the Center of the Earth. This vigorous Arctic tale was used to found and introduce a "Magazine of Adventure,"which was continued for some years. The book contains an accurate picture of Arctic life and of the Arctic geography known to the world of 1864. The account of the Franklin expedition and of the persistent and heroic search for its relief is carefully studied and complete, only it necessarily fails to include the later investigations of the American expedition under Lieutenant...

A French string quartet traveling from San Francisco to their next engagement in San Diego, is diverted to Standard Island. Standard Island is an immense man-made island designed to travel the waters of the Pacific Ocean. The wealth of residents of the island can only be measured in millions. The quartet is hired to play a number of concerts for the residents during their tour of the islands (Sandwich, Cook, Society, etc.) of the South Pacific. The island seems an idyllic paradise; however, it is an island divided in two. The left half's population is led by Jem Tankerdon and is known as the...

Texas is decidedly an ugly customer. He does not really care who wins in the American Civil War, but hearing the man he hates is a Northerner, poses as a Southerner and does his best to ruin the other man. The secret of his dexterity in getting out of tight corners is not revealed until almost the end. The story is full of thrills.

Strange events are occurring around the world, involving lights, sounds and flags that are hung in seemingly impossible to get to locations. At the meeting of the Weldon Institute in Philadelphia, Uncle Prudent (President) and Phil Evans (Secretary) and the membership debate about whether their balloon the Goahead, should have its directional screw located in the front or the back. A man called Robur interrupts and takes over their meeting; he insists that to master the skies, a flying vehicle must be heavier than air. His remarks infuriate the balloonists and after their meeting, Uncle...

Victor Cyprien, a French engineer currently living in the "Diamond Fields" of Griqualand, South Africa desires to marry the beautiful daughter of Mr. Watkins, a man who holds claims to the land that are the "Diamond Fields." Watkins has other plans for his daughter which include her staying in South Africa and marrying one of the wealthier diamond miners. To put himself in a better position to win the hand of Alice, Victor buys a share and begins working his own claim. However, Alice convinces him to return to chemistry and pursue his theory that he can synthesize a diamond. The experiment...

This story is dated a few years after the Indian Mutiny. A party of men travel many miles in a wonderful moving house, drawn by a marvelous steam elephant. Their many adventures, and the doings of Nana Sahib, the fiend of the Mutiny and his final overthrow, are very exciting.

This edition is printed in specially-designed large type for easier reading, and is printed on non-glare paper.

Jules Verne has chosen for his most important book the only subject which he could make surpass his own vivid and realistic stories in absorbing interest; to the treatment of such material he brings all the dash and vivid picturesqueness of his own creations, and it may be imagined that he makes a book worth reading. "This narrative will comprehend not only all the explorations made in past ages, but also all the new discoveries which have of late years so greatly interested the scientific world." Jules Verne