The manuscript of the novel by Jules Verne was first published in France

PARIS. The manuscript of the novel “20 thousand leagues under the sea” by Jules Verne first appeared on the shelves of French bookstores. Buyers appreciated the painstaking work of the publishing house "Saint Per", which released the work.

The first print run in the amount of 1,000 copies, which appeared on store shelves shortly before the New Year holidays, was sold out instantly - only a few pieces remained in stores. Note that the price of this book is quite high - 190 euros for one copy, each of which is decorated in a beautiful blue handmade box.

For connoisseurs of Jules Verne, this manuscript is of great value. On its pages, exactly with the original, all the corrections made by the author are displayed. You can also see that Jules Verne originally wrote his work in pencil, and then applied ink over it. The writer’s handwriting was neat, so the manuscript is read without difficulty. The author himself attached great importance to these works, in his letter to the publisher and friend Pierre-Jules Etzel, he wrote: “If I do not succeed in this novel, I will simply be inconsolable. For a long time already I did not have such a magnificent plot. ”

All the drawings, schemes, and maps that the author drew on the theme of the work being created were also transferred to the manuscript fields. All this is complemented by all the well-known illustrations for the book edition of the novel, created by the graphic artists Eduard Rio and Alfonso de Neuville.

Today, the original manuscript of the novel is in the possession of the French National Library. In 2010, it was acquired from the library of the Geographical Society, which bought it from the first owner, the family of Rolland Bonaparte - a famous geographer, botanist, geologist and traveler, a direct relative of Napoleon Bonaparte. The Rollan Bonaparte Library, which for 14 years headed the Geographical Society, totaled more than 150 thousand volumes of rare works.

Svetlana Korableva © Gallerix.ru