Voyages extraordinaires facts for kids

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*Voyages extraordinaires*
A typical in-8º Hetzel cover for the Voyages Extraordinaires. The novel is Les Aventures du Capitaine Hatteras au Pôle Nord, and the cover style is "Aux deux éléphants" ("With two elephants").

Author	Jules Verne
Country	France
Language	French
Publisher	Pierre-Jules Hetzel
Published	1863–1905 (additional novels revised or written by Michel Verne added 1905–1919)
Media type	print (hardcover and paperback)

The Voyages extraordinaires (which means Extraordinary Voyages or Amazing Journeys in French) is a famous collection of novels and short stories by the French writer Jules Verne.

Fifty-four of these novels were first published between 1863 and 1905. This was during Jules Verne's lifetime. After he passed away, eight more novels were published. These later books were under his name, but his son Michel Verne changed them a lot. One book was even written completely by Michel.

Jules Verne's editor, Pierre-Jules Hetzel, said the goal of the Voyages was to share all the knowledge from modern science. This included facts about geography, geology, physics, history, and astronomy. He wanted to tell the "history of the universe" in a fun and exciting way.

Verne was very careful with details and scientific facts. He also loved to explore and wonder about the world. These ideas are at the heart of the Voyages series. Readers loved his books because they could learn real facts about geology (Earth's rocks), biology (living things), astronomy (space), paleontology (fossils), oceanography (the ocean), and history. They also learned about different places and cultures through the adventures of Verne's characters. His books were like "encyclopedic novels" because they had so much information.

The first novel in this series to be called Voyages Extraordinaires was The Adventures of Captain Hatteras. This was actually the third novel Jules Verne ever wrote.

The stories in this series are exciting adventures. Some of them include science fiction ideas, like Journey to the Center of the Earth. Others are more like scientific romance, such as Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas.

Exploring the World and Beyond
How the Books Were Published
Why Jules Verne's Stories Are Still Popular
List of Amazing Novels
Short Stories in the Collection
How the Books Are Grouped
See also

Exploring the World and Beyond

Jules Verne once said that his goal was to finish a series of stories that would cover the entire world and even the heavens. He felt there were still parts of the world his imagination had not yet explored. He mentioned that he had written about the Moon, but there was much more to do. He hoped to complete this huge task if he stayed healthy and strong.

Verne also made it clear that his main aim was to write great stories, not just to be a scientist. He said, "I do not in any way pose as a scientist." He explained that his goal was to describe the Earth and the whole universe. He also tried to write in a beautiful style. He believed that even adventure novels could have great writing, even though it was harder than writing stories about people's characters.

How the Books Were Published

Pierre-Jules Hetzel had a special way of publishing Jules Verne's Voyages Extraordinaires. Each novel came out in a few different forms. This meant there were often four different versions of each book.

First Editions (serialized): The stories first appeared in a magazine. This was usually Hetzel's own magazine, Magasin d'Éducation et de récréation (which means "Magazine of Education and Recreation"). This magazine started in 1864 and came out every two weeks. Artists working for Hetzel drew pictures for these serialized stories. Some famous artists included Édouard Riou, Léon Benett, and George Roux.
Original Book Editions: After the magazine, the complete stories were published as books. These books were smaller and did not have pictures. Some slightly larger versions also came out with illustrations from the magazine.
Fancy Gilded Editions: These were special, deluxe versions of the books. They were larger and had beautiful, decorated covers. These fancy editions were made for holidays like Christmas and New Year's. They included most or all of the illustrations from the magazine series.

Why Jules Verne's Stories Are Still Popular

Jules Verne is still one of the most translated science fiction authors in the world. He is also one of the most reprinted and widely read French writers. Even though some of his scientific ideas are now outdated, his Voyages still have a sense of wonder. This wonder appealed to readers in his time and still makes young people interested in science today.

The Voyages books are often made into movies. For example, there's Georges Méliès' amazing 1902 film A Trip to the Moon. Later, Walt Disney made Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea in 1954. The 1956 movie Around the World in 80 Days starred Cantinflas. A 2004 version of Around the World in 80 Days starred Jackie Chan. The spirit of Verne's stories also continues to inspire new fiction. This includes James Gurney's Dinotopia series and the Steampunk style, which often mixes old technology with a sense of adventure and curiosity.

List of Amazing Novels

Most of the novels in the Voyages series were first published in parts in magazines. This usually happened in Hetzel's Magasin d'Éducation et de récréation. The first book editions were almost always published by Pierre-Jules Hetzel in a small format. Often, a single story would be split into several volumes.

Here are the fifty-four novels published during Jules Verne's life. The most common English title is given for each. The dates show when the book was first published.

Cinq semaines en ballon (Five Weeks in a Balloon, 1863)
Voyages et aventures du capitaine Hatteras (The Adventures of Captain Hatteras, 1866)
Voyage au centre de la Terre (Journey to the Center of the Earth, 1864, revised 1867)
De la terre à la lune (From the Earth to the Moon, 1865)
Les Enfants du capitaine Grant (In Search of the Castaways, 1867–68)
Vingt mille lieues sous les mers (Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Seas, 1869–70)
Autour de la lune (Around The Moon, 1870)
Une ville flottante (A Floating City, 1871)
Aventures de trois Russes et de trois Anglais (The Adventures of Three Englishmen and Three Russians in South Africa, 1872)
Le Pays des fourrures (The Fur Country, 1873)
Le Tour du monde en quatre-vingts jours (Around the World in Eighty Days, 1873)
L'Île mystérieuse (The Mysterious Island, 1874–75)
Le Chancellor (The Survivors of the Chancellor, 1875)
Michel Strogoff (Michael Strogoff, 1876)
Hector Servadac (Off on a Comet, 1877)
Les Indes noires (The Child of the Cavern, 1877)
Un capitaine de quinze ans (Dick Sand, A Captain at Fifteen, 1878)
Les Cinq Cents Millions de la Bégum (The Begum's Millions, 1879)
Les Tribulations d'un chinois en Chine (Tribulations of a Chinaman in China, 1879)
La Maison à vapeur (The Steam House, 1880)
La Jangada (Eight Hundred Leagues on the Amazon, 1881)
L'École des Robinsons (Godfrey Morgan, 1882)
Le Rayon vert (The Green Ray, 1882)
Kéraban-le-têtu (Kéraban the Inflexible, 1883)
L'Étoile du sud (The Vanished Diamond, 1884)
L'Archipel en feu (The Archipelago on Fire, 1884)
Mathias Sandorf (Mathias Sandorf, 1885)
Un billet de loterie (The Lottery Ticket, 1886)
Robur-le-Conquérant (Robur the Conqueror, 1886)
Nord contre Sud (North Against South, 1887)
Le Chemin de France (The Flight to France, 1887)
Deux Ans de vacances (Two Years' Vacation, 1888)
Famille-sans-nom (Family Without a Name, 1889)
Sans dessus dessous (The Purchase of the North Pole, 1889)
César Cascabel (César Cascabel, 1890)
Mistress Branican (Mistress Branican, 1891)
Le Château des Carpathes (Carpathian Castle, 1892)
Claudius Bombarnac (Claudius Bombarnac, 1892)
P’tit-Bonhomme (Foundling Mick, 1893)
Mirifiques Aventures de Maître Antifer (Captain Antifer, 1894)
L'Île à hélice (Propeller Island, 1895)
Face au drapeau (Facing the Flag, 1896)
Clovis Dardentor (Clovis Dardentor, 1896)
Le Sphinx des glaces (An Antarctic Mystery, 1897)
Le Superbe Orénoque (The Mighty Orinoco, 1898)
Le Testament d'un excentrique (The Will of an Eccentric, 1899)
Seconde Patrie (The Castaways of the Flag, 1900)
Le Village aérien (The Village in the Treetops, 1901)
Les Histoires de Jean-Marie Cabidoulin (The Sea Serpent, 1901)
Les Frères Kip (The Kip Brothers, 1902)
Bourses de voyage (Travel Scholarships, 1903)
Un drame en Livonie (A Drama in Livonia, 1904)
Maître du monde (Master of the World, 1904)
L'Invasion de la mer (Invasion of the Sea, 1905)

After Jules Verne died, his son Michel Verne changed or wrote some additional books. Here are those posthumous additions:

Le Phare du bout du monde (Lighthouse at the End of the World, 1905)
Le Volcan d’or (The Golden Volcano, 1906)
L’Agence Thompson and Co (The Thompson Travel Agency, 1907)
La Chasse au météore (The Chase of the Golden Meteor, 1908)
Le Pilote du Danube (The Danube Pilot, 1908)
Les Naufragés du "Jonathan" (The Survivors of the "Jonathan", 1909)
Le Secret de Wilhelm Storitz (The Secret of Wilhelm Storitz, 1910)
L’Étonnante Aventure de la mission Barsac (The Barsac Mission, 1919)

Short Stories in the Collection

The Voyages series also includes some short stories. There are two collections of short stories and seven individual short stories. These individual stories were published along with some of the novels.

The short story collections are:

Le Docteur Ox (Doctor Ox, 1874)
Hier et Demain (Yesterday and Tomorrow, 1910) (This one was published after Verne died, and his son Michel finished or changed the stories.)

And the individual short stories are:

Les Forceurs de blocus (The Blockade Runners, published with A Floating City, 1871)
Martin Paz (Martin Paz, published with The Survivors of the Chancellor, 1875)
Un drame au Mexique (A Drama in Mexico, published with Michael Strogoff, 1876)
Les révoltés de la Bounty (The Mutineers of the Bounty, published with The Begum's Millions, 1879)
Dix heures en chasse (Ten Hours Hunting, published with The Green Ray, 1882)
Frritt-Flacc (Frritt-Flacc, published with The Lottery Ticket, 1886)
Gil Braltar (Gil Braltar, published with The Flight to France, 1887)

How the Books Are Grouped

Jules Verne's editor, Pierre-Jules Hetzel, organized the Voyages Extraordinaires into different groups. Most of these groups were based on where the stories took place in the world.

The Robinsons Cycle: These stories are about people surviving in wild places, like Godfrey Morgan and Two Years' Vacation.
Europe: Stories set in Europe, such as Journey to the Center of the Earth and Carpathian Castle.
Africa: Adventures in Africa, including Five Weeks in a Balloon and Dick Sand, A Captain at Fifteen.
The Polar Lands: Stories about the North and South Poles, like The Adventures of Captain Hatteras and An Antarctic Mystery.
World Tours: Books where characters travel around the globe, such as Around the World in Eighty Days and Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Seas.
The Two Americas: Stories set in North and South America, including Eight Hundred Leagues on the Amazon and César Cascabel.
Asia: Adventures in Asian countries, like Michael Strogoff and Tribulations of a Chinaman in China.
Seas and Oceans: Stories taking place on or under the water, such as The Mysterious Island and Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Seas.
Celestial Spaces: Books about space and other planets, like From the Earth to the Moon and Off on a Comet.
Oceania and Australia: Stories set in islands and Australia, including Mistress Branican and Propeller Island.
Tales and News: Short stories and collections, like Doctor Ox and Yesterday and Tomorrow.