The most gorgeous Jules Verne books you can't buy

February 18, 2010 9:03 PM

Gorgeous new covers for Around the World in 80 Days, Journey to the Center of the Earth, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea and From the Earth to the Moon by design student Jim Tierney.
posted by Omon Ra (29 comments total)

These are very nice. Re. 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea: I wish they'd gone with the giant squid cover (or even the bottom of the ocean one) over the diving helmet through.
posted by stinkycheese at 9:12 PM on February 18, 2010

The squd appears when you take the slipcover off :-)
posted by Omon Ra at 9:14 PM on February 18, 2010

Oh, wow. So pretty!
posted by gemmy at 9:17 PM on February 18, 2010

I like the color palette. It invokes an the nostalgia of Back When Things Were Well Made.
posted by Scoo at 9:28 PM on February 18, 2010

Those are fantastic. Does having 4/5th of a dust jacket protect a book well?
posted by boo_radley at 9:52 PM on February 18, 2010

So lovely! I studied in Nantes, Jules Verne's hometown, for a few months. Many parts of the city are influenced by his aesthetic, like the Machines de l'ile workshop (and their giant mechanical elephant.)
posted by Solon and Thanks at 9:59 PM on February 18, 2010 [1 favorite]

Omnora, I think stinkycheese is saying one of the others should have been the outside cover. These are beautiful though, mostly for the reason Scoo gives.
posted by GeckoDundee at 10:50 PM on February 18, 2010

Omonra, I meant. Sorry.
posted by GeckoDundee at 10:50 PM on February 18, 2010

Anyone enamored with ebook readers - or anyone with access to a good printer - would do well to remember that Jules Verne's works have long been in the public domain as far as copyright is concerned. In fact, Charles Parke's beautiful 1911 edition of the complete works of Jules Verne, complete with some very nice illustrations and one of the prettiest title pages I've ever met, is available in full from the awesome Internet Archive in a wide variety of formats. (They even have a Kindle edition there!) Here it is:

Volume 1
Volume 2
Volume 3
Volume 4
Volume 5
Volume 6
Volume 7
Volume 8
Volume 9
Volume 10
Volume 11
Volume 12
Volume 13
Volume 14
Volume 15

posted by koeselitz at 2:44 AM on February 19, 2010 [4 favorites]

Sorry - I meant Charles Horne, not Parke.
posted by koeselitz at 2:45 AM on February 19, 2010

When I was in middle school, I made a diorama for Around the World in 80 Days. Another kid did the same book. His diorama had a hot air balloon.

But - spoiler alert - there is no hot air balloon in the book, only in the movie. I was filled with nerd rage, MetaFilter. And you know what that's like.
posted by the littlest brussels sprout at 3:15 AM on February 19, 2010 [5 favorites]

I'm empathising strongly, sprout. After all, Phileas Fogg would never have bet on something as uncertain as a balloon journey - that wasn't the way his mind worked. For him it was all about the mathematical certainty of railway timetables. Of course his faith was misplaced, as we know, but - a balloon? Pah, I say: and moreover, pooh!
posted by Phanx at 3:23 AM on February 19, 2010

I can't view this because of the browser I'm saddled with so instead I will post this link containing some excellent covers - including one for 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea - by Nitzan Klamer.
posted by ninebelow at 3:27 AM on February 19, 2010

Skeleton at the Helm? Tierney's excellent designs remind me a little of these covers by Jo Obarowski.
posted by Faze at 4:55 AM on February 19, 2010

These are gorgeous, thanks. But after seeing the alternate cover for 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, I kinda wonder if it's whale week on the internet.

That whale's so big its week is a month!

...ha?
posted by kittyprecious at 5:43 AM on February 19, 2010

These are amazing, stylistically sort of in between Chris Ware and Ray Fenwick. This whole website is really great, thanks.
posted by oulipian at 6:03 AM on February 19, 2010 [1 favorite]

Pretty. Unfortunately, the Verne canon is not really represented well in English because the existing English translations used everywhere (because they are in the public domain) are so lacking. But no publisher wants to pay for a new translation.

I wish my French reading skills were better.
posted by clvrmnky at 6:09 AM on February 19, 2010

Wow. I was expecting, eh, whatever; these are fantastic.
posted by notsnot at 7:16 AM on February 19, 2010

Damn.
posted by designbot at 9:12 AM on February 19, 2010

But - spoiler alert - there is no hot air balloon in the book [Around the World in 80 Days], only in the movie.

Ah, but there is a hot air balloon in my favorite Jules Verne book of all time: The Mysterious Island.

And I am in total agreement with clvrmnky that the existing English translations are crap. I enjoy the books for their atmosphere and wealth of invention, but that dialogue—whoo boy!
posted by Atom Eyes at 9:23 AM on February 19, 2010

Very nice. Thanks for the post.
posted by brundlefly at 9:29 AM on February 19, 2010

Oh, and neat blog. I'm definitely grabbing that feed.
posted by brundlefly at 9:30 AM on February 19, 2010

+1 for The Mysterious Island. I'm still waiting for the folks on LOST to find Captain Nemo.
posted by shakespeherian at 11:45 AM on February 19, 2010

A Book By Its Gorey Cover 1 and 2.
posted by Evilspork at 12:41 PM on February 19, 2010

Evilspork: The Kierke Gaard and Greek Tragedy ones still make me laugh awkwardly loudly, even the second time I see them.
posted by Solon and Thanks at 1:55 PM on February 19, 2010

These are great! and they even stand up to comparison with the classic covers on the nineteenth-century editions of Verne published by Hetzel. Cinq Semaines en Ballon. Vingt Mille Lieues sous les Mers. (This site has a wonderfully detailed classification of all the different types of binding, with delightfully poetic descriptions: Type aux deux éléphants avec titre sur fond argent, etc.) There's a bookshop in Paris that specialises in Verne and has a fantastic display of early editions in the window.
posted by verstegan at 1:27 AM on February 20, 2010

If you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all.
posted by sneebler at 7:20 AM on February 20, 2010

clvrmnky: "Pretty. Unfortunately, the Verne canon is not really represented well in English because the existing English translations used everywhere (because they are in the public domain) are so lacking. But no publisher wants to pay for a new translation."

Exactly. I would highly recommend *not* reading Jules Verne unless it is a modern translation (last 30 years or so). The old translations were atrocious and like a virus they keep spreading. Verne's critical reputation in the English speaking world has been harmed by it, a few scholars are trying to correct it with more up to date translations but a lot of work remains to be done.
posted by stbalbach at 8:06 AM on February 20, 2010

The Wheel of Time books are getting some badly needed new cover art for the ebook releases. You can view the ones that have been released here. They also have some discussions of/by the artists.
posted by chndrcks at 11:18 AM on February 20, 2010