Jules Verne (1828–1905)

Jules Verne, French author, was born at Nantes on the 8th of February 1828. After completing his studies at the Nantes lycée, he went to Paris to study for the bar. For some years his interests alternated between the theatre and the bourse, but some travellers' stories which he wrote for the _Musée des Familles_ seem to have revealed to him the true direction of his talent--the delineation, viz., of delightfully extravagant voyages and adventures to which cleverly prepared scientific and geographical details lent an air of verisimilitude. His first success was obtained with _Cinq semaines en ballon_, which he wrote for Jules Hetzel's _Magazin d'Éducation_ in 1862, and thenceforward, for a quarter of a century, scarcely a year passed in which Hetzel did not publish one or more of his fantastic stories, illustrated generally by pictures of the most lurid and sensational description. The novels were translated into the various European languages--and some even into Japanese and Arabic--and had an enormous success in England. M. Verne, who was always extremely popular in society, divided his time for the most part between Paris, his home at Amiens and his yacht. He was a member of the Legion of Honour, and several of his romances were crowned by the French Academy, but he was never enrolled among its members. He survived an attack perpetrated by his nephew Gaston, but was forced to relinquish his beloved yacht. Having out-lived his publisher Hetzel and brother Paul, he died at Amiens on the 24th of March 1905. His posthumous works were edited by his son, Michel. They run the gamut from light corrections to novels that are essentially Michel's own, though all carry the elder Verne's name.

Verne's works in English (and other languages, for that matter) often have varied titles. Try here (http://www.phys.uu.nl/~gdevries/langu...) to identify title variations.