THE PALIK SERIES

The North American Jules Verne Society is pleased to announce its new series named for our generous benefactor and late fellow member and friend, Edward Palik. Shortly before his passing, he gave us his bountiful Verne collection to sell to other members for their enjoyment, but also to raise funds for a particular cause which was close to his heart. This was bringing into English the Verne stories that remain inaccessible to Anglophone readers. Ed’s previous generosity had helped to make possible our publication of Verne’s science fiction play, Journey Through the Impossible, in 2003.

Continuing in the tradition of that volume, NAJVS’s Palik series will continue to offer critical editions of Verne works hitherto unavailable in English. Society Vice-President Brian Taves, co-author of The Jules Verne Encyclopedia (Scarecrow Press, 1996), who secured the first English translation and publication of Adventures of the Rat Family (Oxford University Press, 1993), will serve as series editor. The society’s publication committee will provide peer review.

The first book will be The Marriage of Mr. Anselme de Tilleuls, with a preface and notes by Jean-Michel Margot, and a series introduction by Walter James Miller. The second volume, The Count of Chanteleine, will, like Marriage, be translated by Edward Baxter, who previously rendered our Journey Through the Impossible, in addition to The Golden Volcano, The Invasion of the Sea, “The Humbug,” The Fur Country, and Family Without a Name for other publishers. The Marriage of Mr. Anselme de Tilleuls is a humorous story while The Count of Chanteleine is a historical novel of the French Revolution. The third volume will study the relationship between Jules and Michel Verne, and consist of both Pierre-Jean, which Michel rewrote into The Fate of Jean Morenas, and Study Trip, the beginning of the novel that, in Michel’s hands, would become The Astonishing Adventure of the Barsac Mission (and is still widely available in English through the Fitzroy edition 1960s paperback as two volumes, Into the Niger Bend and The City in the Sahara). Translation of Pierre-Jean, The Fate of Jean Morenas, and Study Trip, along with critical material, will be by Kieran O’Driscoll, the young Irish scholar with a growing list of Verne essays to his credit. Many of our members will recall meeting him at the 2007 NAJVS meeting in Albuquerque.

Watch this site for further details on NAJVS publications in the Palik Series.

There are still some books available for sale from Ed Palik’s book collection, visit this link for more information.