AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 DAYS (UNABRIDGED CLASSICS)

Born on 8 February 1828, Jules Gabriel Verne was a French novelist, poet and playwright who has also been the second most-translated writer in the world since 1979. Popular for writing about air, underwater and space travel much before submarines or air travel became a reality, Verne was a visionary. Early in life, he began writing for magazines and his collaboration with Pierre-Jules Hetzel led to the creation of the Voyages Extraordinaires series that included Journey To The Center Of The Earth (1864), 2, Leagues Under The Sea (187) and Around The World In 8 Days (1873). A writer of plays, poems, operetta libretti, short stories, essays and miscellaneous non-fiction, Verne, in his works imagined a more harmonious and humanitarian society. English translations of Verne's novels began in 1869 with William Lackland's translation of Five Weeks In A Balloon (originally published in 1863), and continued throughout his writing career, with publishers and translators working together to have his most popular books printed into English language. On Verne and his influence on literature, Ray Bradbury had remarked, "We are all, in one way or another, the children of Jules Verne."