Verne's "Journey To The Center Of The Earth" (1864)

Scholastic Book Services 1970

In 1863, French writer Jules Verne began writing a series of novels grouped as "Voyages extraordinaires", or "Amazing Journeys", edited and published by Pierre-Jules Hetzel. The third entry in this series was 1864's Voyage au centre de la Terre, or Journey to the Center of the Earth. Although  journeys into a "Hollow Earth" had been depicted in earlier writings (such as in Ludvig Holberg's 1741 novel Niels Klim's Underground Travels, or The Journey to the World Underground), Verne's subterranean odyssey was the first to base its premise on actual scientific findings, thus making it one of the first examples of "hard sf".

Additionally, Verne's novel was the first to introduce the idea of a time-lost region in which prehistoric life had survived into the present day. This "land of the lost" concept would later be developed by writers such as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (1912's The Lost World), Edgar Rice Burroughs (1914's At the Earth's Core, 1918's The Land that Time Forgot) and many others.

Scribner, Armstrong 1874

Verne's novel features three main characters: an ambitious, obsessed German scientist named Lidenbrock, his reluctant, pessimistic nephew Axel and their seemingly-tireless Danish guide, Hans. The story begins when Lidenbrock discovers a scrap of coded parchment written by the 16th century alchemist Arne Saknussem. The secret message turns out to claim that Saknussem had reached the center of the Earth, and gives a hint to his method: a descent into the mouth of a slumbering volcano. The main characters soon follow in Saknussem's tracks, and end up discovering many wondrous phenomena as they descend many miles below ground (most notably underground seas, prehistoric monsters, lightning storms and lava eruptions). 

Penguin Books 2009, Stephen Rothwell

Synopsis

Verne's original novel did not use chapter titles, but the synopsis below includes the titles created by F. A. Malleson for his 1877 English translation (Ward Lock & Co Ltd.). Illustrations by Riou, set by Pannebaker/Maurand.

1. The Professor and His Family: Immediately after an eccentric Hamburg professor named Lidenbrock returns home, he summonses his hapless nephew Axel to his study.
2. A Mystery to Be Solved at Any Price: Lidenbrock shows Axel a 700-year old book he has just bought. When a hand-written manuscript slips out from between its pages, Lidenbrock decides to decipher its runic script in search of some secret message.
   
3. The Runic Writing Exercises the Professor: The runes reveal the author of the message to be Arne Saknussem, a 16th century alchemist. After failing to decode the rest of the runes, Lidenbrock leaves the room in frustration.
4. The Enemy to Be Starved Into Submission: While his uncle is absent, Axel stumbles upon the key to decrypt the letter, but is taken aback by its contents. However, his uncle returns before he can destroy the note.
5. Famine, Then Victory, Followed by Dismay: After many hours of going without supper, Axel finally relents and tells his uncle to read the note backwards. This reveals Saknussem's claim that he had reached the center of the Earth through a volcano crater. Lidenbrock insists on eating and then immediately packing for a trip.
6. Exciting Discussions About an Unparalleled Enterprise: Axel tries to use logic to dissuade his uncle from attempting a similar journey to the center of the Earth, but the excitable scientist counters his every argument.
7. 
   A Woman’s Courage: When Axel meets his lady love Grauben (Professor Lidenbrock's god-daughter), he is taken aback when the girl unexpectedly applauds the adventurous undertaking. Reluctantly, Axel finds himself departing with Lidenbrock two days later for Iceland.
8. Serious Preparations for Vertical Descent: Axel and his uncle travel north by train and steamship, enjoying the sights and visiting museums and church steeples (in order to get Axel acquainted with steep inclines). As the pair get ever closer to Iceland, Axel becomes more and more uneasy and uncomfortable.
9. Iceland! But What Next?: The pair take a steamship to Reykjavik and soon come within sight of Mount Snæfells, the entry point indicated by Saknussem in his coded message.
10. Interesting Conversations with Icelandic Savants: During dinner with a local scholar, Lidenbrock learns that Saknussem's writings have been banned for heresy in Iceland. The scholar also recommends a guide to Mount Snæfells.
11. A Guide Found to the Centre of the Earth: In the following days, the explorers meet their taciturn Danish guide Hans and purchase supplies for their underground expedition.
12. A Barren Land: After traveling for some days on pack horses, the trio eventually come to a fjord which they cross by ferry (a raft).
13. Hospitality Under the Arctic Circle: The trio head deeper and deeper into the dreary Icelandic wilderness and spend their nights lodging with local peasants (at one point, they spot a leper). Eventually, they come within sight of the extinct Snæfells volcano.
14. 
    But Arctics Can Be Inhospitable, Too: After spending a night at a rundown pastor's house in Stapi, Axel tries one last time (and fails) to dissuade his uncle from the attempt to venture underground. Lidenbrock assures his nephew that despite his fears, the volcano will not suddenly awaken while they are in it.
15. Snæfells at Last: The next day, the expedition goes up the steep side of Snæfells. After evading a sudden tornado, the group make camp just over the crater lip of Scartaris (Snæfells' southern peak).
16. Boldly Down the Crater: At the bottom of Scartaris' crater, Lidenbrock spots the name "Arne Saknussem" carved into a rock nearby. After a few days of waiting in cloudy overcast weather, Lidenbrock sees a cliff shadow pointing to the correct pit (out of a possible three) to enter in order to reach the Earth's core (as per instructions in Saknussem's note).
17. Vertical Descent: The trio descend into the pit using looped ropes hung on spikes and using ledges as an aid. After a day of descent, they finally reach the bottom of this initial "chimney" and make camp for the night.
18. The Wonders of Terrestrial Depths: The expedition enters a downward-slanting lava corridor and proceeds into the depths for another day, where their electric lamps display many beautiful layers of lava.
    
19. Geological Studies In Situ: After a couple more days, the ground seems to level off. Axel believes that, due to the presence of unexpected fossil remains, the passage may be leading back upwards towards the surface.
20. The First Signs of Distress: After crossing an underground coalfield, the passage comes to a dead end, and Lidenbrock realizes that they must have taken a wrong turn earlier on. Even worse, their water supply is running out.
21. Compassion Fuses the Professor’s Heart: When the trio reach the forked passage in question, Axel demands that they return to the surface, but Lidenbrock insists on one more day to try out the alternate passageway.
22. Total Failure of Water: A day later, Axel passes out from lack of water. When he awakens, he sees Hans heading downward alone.
23. 
    Water Discovered: Hans returns and indicates that he hears water in the rock below. When further exploration yields no signs of water, Hans uses a pick-axe to open up a hole in the wall which eventually lets the nearby underground river spring a leak into their passageway.
24. Well Said, Old Mole! Canst Thou Work i’ the Ground So Fast? (from Hamlet): The passage eventually leads to a "fault" in the ground containing a natural staircase. After a few more days of descent, Axel realizes that they are now under the sea bed of the Atlantic and 40 miles below sea level.
25. De Profundis ("From the depths"): As the journey continues, Axel wonders why the temperature has not increased as he had expected (based on current scientific theory). He also wonders if the pressure of the atmosphere will be too heavy to bear as they approach the Earth's core.
26. The Worst Peril of All: One day, Axel realizes that he has become separated from Lidenbrock and Hans. After some wandering, he becomes totally lost.
27. Lost in the Bowels of the Earth: In a state of panic, Axel tries to find his way back to the surface, but his lamp soon burns out, causing him to run into a wall and knock himself unconscious in the total darkness.
28. The Rescue in the Whispering Gallery: After a time, Axel hears gunshots and then his uncle's voice reverberating from the walls. They calculate that they are almost 4 miles apart by comparing times, after which Lidenbrock tells Axel that he must simply continue downward to find them.
29. "Thalatta! Thalatta!" ("The Sea! The Sea!"): After waking up from a tumble, Axel realizes that his uncle has found him. Not only that, but he detects sunlight and a breeze nearby.
    
30. A New Mare Internum: Upon further inspection he discovers that they are on the shore of an underground ocean ("Port Grauben"), lit by atmospheric lighting effects created from "air pressure". Nearby, he also sees a forest of 40-foot tall mushrooms and other gigantic plants. Lidenbrock also points out some dinosaur bones.
    
31. Preparations for a Voyage of Discovery: The next day, Hans begins building a raft so that they can journey across to the southern shore of the "Lidenbrock Sea".
32. Wonders of the Deep: While sailing on the underground ocean, the travelers manage to catch some previously-thought extinct fish. Axel wonders if they may see living dinosaurs somehow.
33. A Battle of Monsters: A few days later, the raft is caught between a battle between an ichthyosaurus and a plesiosaur. Fortunately, the raft survives the event.
    
34. The Great Geyser: Soon the sailors come across a small island ("Axel Island") with a geyser in the middle. Axel calculates that they are now below England.
35. An Electric Storm: Days later, the raft is caught in a hurricane, causing lightning to flash all around them. Ball lightning strikes the mast of their raft.
    
36. Calm Philosophic Discussions: The raft eventually makes land, but it turns out that they have returned to the same shore they had started from, only a little bit down the coast.
37. The Lidenbrock Museum of Geology: Lidenbrock prepares to head out to sea again, but before they do so he and Axel discover a field of bones, containing the skeletons of both dinosaurs and a man.
38. The Professor in His Chair Again: They soon come across shriveled up human corpses, leading Lidenbrock to suspect that this habitat had sunk into the depths of the Earth millions of years ago, preserving these specimens from the passage of time.
    
39. Forest Scenery Illuminated by Electricity: Further inland, Axel and Lidenbrock are stunned to come across some mastodons tended by a 12-foot tall humanoid "sheepherder". Fearing discovery, they immediately retreat to the shore where they find a rusty knife in the sand, apparently used by Arne Saknussem to carve his initials in a rock nearby, 300 years ago.
40. Preparations for Blasting a Passage to the Centre of the Earth: After naming the area "Cape Saknussem", the trio head down a tunnel indicated by the alchemist-explorer, only to find it plugged up by a boulder.
41. The Great Explosion and the Rush Down Below: The men lay explosives in the boulder and then retreat to their raft to gain some distance before lighting the fuse. When the explosion goes off, it tears a hole in the rock face, causing the sea to flow into the chasm created by the charge. The expedition's raft is caught by the undertow and carried down the underground current at high speed for several hours.
    
42. Headlong Speed Upward Through the Horrors of Darkness: Eventually, the raft is lifted up by rising water as the sea fills the cavity below. As hours pass and the raft continues to rise, the temperature begins rising.
43. Shot Out of a Volcano at Last!: They soon realize that their raft is being lifted up the chimney of an active volcano. After several hours, the rising water is replaced by molten lava. Lidenbrock hopes that the raft will eventually be ejected from the volcano's mouth. Axel passes out.
    
44. Sunny Lands in the Blue Mediterranean: Axel wakes up on the side of a mountain, apparently rescued from oblivion by Hans. The trio soon descend and discover themselves to be in Stromboli, Sicily.
45. All’s Well That Ends Well: The party eventually return to Hamburg where Lidenbrock is hailed as a controversial celebrity. They also realize that their compass had demagnetized while enduring the hurricane of the Lidenbrock Sea, causing them to think at one point that they had returned to the wrong shore.

Ebook at Standard Ebooks (1877 Malleson translation)
Summary Guide at Coursehero
1963 BBC Radio Production