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The Golden Volcano thrusts two Canadian cousins—unexpectedly bequeathed a mining claim in the Klondike—into the middle of the gold rush, where they encounter disease, disaster, extremes of weather, and human nature twisted by a passion for gold. A deathbed confidence sends the two searching for a fabulous gold-filled volcano on the shore of the Arctic Ocean. But nature, both human and physical, hasn’t finished with them, and their story plays out with the nail-biting adventure of an action thriller and the moral and emotional force of high drama. Like many of the works left unpublished when Jules Verne died, The Golden Volcano was altered and edited by his son, Michel. This first translation from the original manuscript allows readers of English to rediscover the pleasures of Verne’s storytelling in its original form—and to enjoy a virtually unknown gem of action, adventure, and style from a master of French literature. (20080324)
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Jules Verne
j^[ ] eb Z[dlebYWde B[LebYWdZ¼eh The First English Translation of Verne’s Original Manuscript Translated and edited by Edward Baxter Preface to the French edition by Olivier Dumas
/ University of Nebraska Press Lincoln
Publication of this book was made possible by a grant from The Florence Gould Foundation. B[LebYWdZ¼eh © Société Jules Verne, '/./, pour une première édition à tirage limité. © Les Éditions internationales Alain Stanké, '//+. © L’Archipel, '//+. Translation and critical materials © (&&. by Edward Baxter. All rights reserved Manufactured in the United States of America f Library of Congress Catalogingin-Publication Data Verne, Jules, '.(.–'/&+. [Volcan d’or. English] The golden volcano = Le volcan d’or: THElRST%NGLISHTRANSLATIONOF6ERNES original manuscript / Jules Verne; translated and edited by Edward Baxter; preface to the French edition by Olivier Dumas. p. cm. — (Bison frontiers of imagination) _iXd /-.#&#.&)(#/,))#, (cloth: alk. paper) — _iXd /-.#&#.&)(#/,)+#& (pbk.: alk. paper) I. Baxter, Edward. II. Title. III. Title: Volcan d’or. fg(*,/.v-[+(&&. .*)'$.—dc(( (&&-&)-*() Set in Granjon.
Contents
Preface to the French Edition . . l__ Translator's Introduction . . nl fWhjed[ '. An Uncle’s Legacy . . ) (. The Two Cousins . . ') ). From Montreal to Vancouver . . (, *. Vancouver . . ). +. On Board the kdj \eh j^[ C[j[eh, J^[ :WdkX[ F_bej, J^[ =ebZ[d LebYWde, and IjkZo Jh_f. Only the last of these was still in the early stages. Regrettably, under pressure from the publisher Jules Hetzel, Michel Verne began tampering with these with unfortunate results.2 He completely rewrote his father’s works—including J^[ =ebZ[d LebYWde—and introduced new characters, wrote new chapters, and invented new endings. The entire spirit of the original works was misrepresented. Up until the present time, these posthumous novels were known only INTHEIRDISlGUREDFORM"UTNOWTHE3OCIÏTÏ*ULES6ERNEHASDISCOVERED copies of Jules Verne’s manuscripts in the possession of the publisher’s descendants. After an initial private, limited edition, now out of print, it now offers to the public at large the original and only authentic version of B[LebYWdZ¼eh$ A hundred years after it was written, this novel has now been restored to its true form. J^[CWdkiYh_fje\Le Volcan d’or
In './,, prospectors were rushing to the banks of streams in the Klondike area of the Yukon Territory after the discovery of an inexhaustible deposit of gold had been reported. Jules Verne’s own son tried his hand at prospecting. The author at once described the disastrous gold fever brought on by the metal that he had held in contempt ever since he had worked at the Stock Exchange in '.+-—the same gold that provided material for ?dj^[CW][bbWd[i and J^[>kdj\ehj^[C[j[eh and to which he would ref