Jules Verne

[pwalker8]

Originally Posted by Dr. Drib

You should also look at the William Butcher translation, which is a scholarly edition with an introduction and notes by the translator. This edition is published by Oxford University Press.

As William Butcher notes, "This translation is an entirely original one, benefiting from the most recent scholarship on Verne and closely following the French text."

The Baen edition, rather, appears to be an older translation with updated notes to include some text.

The Butcher and the Frederic Paul Walter translations seem to be considered the two primer modern translations. Apparently unabridged is a somewhat nebulous term in this case. I get the impression that it tends to refer more to the highly abridged English translations of the day rather than an exact translation of the original manuscript since there appears to be a certain degree of uncertainty with regards what the original manuscript actually is.

[pwalker8]

One thing reading the Mysterious Island has done is lead me to want to read The Swiss Family Robinson, the original "Robinson". I haven't read the book since reading the kid's version way back when I was a kid. I have seen the Disney movie, of course. I was a bit surprised to learn that there were 4 sons in the book, not just the 3 who were in the movie version, nor apparently is there a tree house. I ended up picking up the Signet version which appears to be a fairly well regarded translation of the original German.