Portrait of Jules Verne
Oil on canvas, circa 1875
MJV C530
Jules Verne, around 45 years of age, is shown at the peak of his powers, at the time when Around the World in 80 days was a triumph on stage, after its huge success as a book, and when The Mysterious Island was published. It’s an opportunity to admire the reddish-blond tints in his hair and beard, since posterity safeguarded them as white.
Chair belonging to Jules Verne
From the furnishings in the dining room at no. 2 rue Charles-Dubois in Amiens.
MJV G167
Meal time was an important moment for Jules Verne.
Since his younger days in Paris, he had suffered from food-related problems and acute and chronic stomach pains. As he matured and achieved a comfortable life, he developed a need to eat to excess, suffering from a form of bulimia. No doubt a symptom of the diabetes that took his life on March 24, 1905.
Food was such an important concern in the writer’s life that it his work is rife with allusions to food, from hunger pangs to the convivial pleasures of mealtimes.
Due to his deteriorating health, as he got older, Jules Verne followed a strict diet. According to his grandson, Jean Jules Verne (1892-1980), it was at this time that he adopted this short chair on legs. « To complete the formality of mealtimes as quickly as possible, he used a low chair that placed his plate almost at the level of his mouth! »
Busts of Jules Verne
Fabio Stecchi
Terracotta, 1882
MJV G317
Albert Roze, according to Fabio Stecchi
Marble, 1906
MJV G244
The marble bust of Jules Verne by Albert Roze was not created during the author’s lifetime. It dates from 1906 and carried the inscription « Albert Roze d’après Stecchi » (Albert Roze according to Stecchi). Albert Roze was inspired by a work by sculptor Fabio Stecchi: this terracotta bust of Jules Verne made from life in 1883 and presented the same year at the Salon des Artistes Français in Paris. The sculptures by Fabio Stecchi and Albert Roze represent a portrait of Jules Verne cut off at the shoulders, the head at a three-quarter turn, the chin slightly raised; dignified and elegant. In 1883, Fabio Stecchi captured the likeness of a man then aged 55, at the peak of his glory. It is the same solemnity that Albery Roze conveys in this marble bust, as in the one he sculpted soon after for a monument to commemorate the glory of Jules Verne in Amiens.
Champagne glasses
Plates monogrammed with « JV »
Fruit plates monogrammed with « JV »
Coffee cups and saucers
Liqueur service
Silverware
At no. 2 rue Charles-Dubois, in Amiens, the table is laid. Jules Verne left his work quarters on the upper floor of the house to go to the dining room on the ground floor only at mealtimes, to satisfy his voracious appetite. « Did he not eat six enormous artichokes from the floating gardens of Amiens every evening for years? » reported his grandson. Jean Jules-Verne (1892-1980). Jules Verne ate more out of necessity than love of food.
The dishes prepared by his wife Honorine Verne, known to be an excellent cook, wowed the guests, particularly from Amiens, that she liked to invite. When Jules Verne’s gluttony didn’t ruin all her efforts… « I’ve heard extraordinary stories about a leg of lamb devoured while waiting for late guests, and a roast which he gobbled up in its entirety! »
Jules Verne no doubt preferred the company of the journalists he met in his home to these worldly guests. They included Adolphe Brisson, Marie Belloc, Edmondo de Amicis, Robert Sherard,… They came from France, England, Germany and America to talk with the now-famous author of Voyages Extraordinaires, then aged around sixty.
Experience moments of Jules Verne’s private life, of which perhaps the plates, champagne glasses and coffee cups capture memories engraved into the glass and the china.
In the drawers
Jules Verne
Letter written to Mr Alliou
Amiens, March 28, 1883
MJV B153
In a letter written to Mr Alliou, an employee of the Hetzel publishing company, and at whose home Fabio Stecchi stayed during his visits to Paris, Jules Verne wrote:
« In the coming days you will receive a crate containing the bust that Stecchi made of me. It is at Mr Hetzel’s request that I am sending this crate to you, and Stecchi will ensure that it arrives promptly to the salon where the bust is to be displayed. »
Edmondo De Amicis (Italian journalist)
Memoriae, « Una visita a Jules Verne »
Treves publishing house, Milan, 1904
MJV A1122
« We went to meet Jules Verne in Amiens. That’s where he lives all year round, two and a half hours by rail from Paris. […] Jules Verne appeared. He smiled and held out his hand to us. […] He is almost eighty years old but doesn’t look it. […] After the pleasure of seeing him, my first sentiment was one of astonishment. Aside from obvious goodness and affable manners, I could see nothing of the Verne that I had imagined in the man standing before me. »
Jules Verne
Poem written to his mother, Sophie Verne
[Nantes, 1842]
MJV B272 – Original manuscript
Jules Verne
Letter written to his father, Pierre Verne
[Paris, 1851]
MJV B33 – Original manuscript
« My project is progressing well, but nothing is finished yet.
This is what happened. Through Arago, I obtained a meeting with Mo[c]ker, one of the best actors at the comic opera and general bailiff. I read to him from the book; he was quite literally enchanted. »
The Man behind the writer
Throughout his life Jules Verne maintained a very affectionate relationship with his parents, his brother and his sisters. The letters that he wrote to them convey a spontaneous style, sometimes joking, relating his predilection for writing, his early career opportunities, the state of progress of his literary projects that he shared with his family, and the most personal aspects of his life.
Jules Verne
Letter written to his mother, Sophie Verne
Amiens, November 1856
MJV B228 – Original manuscript
« You are not accustomed to seeing me praise an entire family and your motherly intuition will make you realise that something is going on! I believe I am in love with the young 26-year-old widow! Ah! Why does she have two children! I’m unlucky, I always come across obstacles of one kind or another. »
Jules Verne
Letter written to his father, Pierre Verne
Letterhead of the Fernand Eggly bank, March 10, 1868
MJV B257 – Original manuscript
« I am in the thick of Journey Under Water, which in reality will be called Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea. I am greatly enjoying working on it and I hope it will be very curious. In three or four months, once I have the proofs, I will try to send the first volume to you and Paul so that you can peruse it for errors or imperfections. I would like this thing to be as perfect as possible. »
Jules Verne
Letter written to his brother, Paul Verne
Letterhead of Société industrielle d’Amiens
Amiens, September 7, 1894
MJV B167 – Original manuscript
« Today I am sending the first volume in galley proofs of Propeller Island. After reading it, Hetzel told me: « It’s extremely original, and you have approached it from a standpoint that would be very daring from anyone other than you! » You will see whether or not it’s true. I am sending it to you for you to make comments in the blank page, wherever there is space. And see what you have to say about the mechanical part. »
Jules Verne
Letter written to his sister, Marie Guillon-Verne
Amiens, December 17, 1899
MJV B306 – Original manuscript
« As for going to Nantes in the spring, that’s another matter and you seem to forget that by then I will be in my 73rd year. Yes! That’s how it is. And not only am I an old man, but I am an old man who goes to bed at 8pm and goes nowhere. Thank you however for your invitation. »
The Masquerade Ball Held by Mr Jules Verne
Drawings by Mr Vierge according to the sketch by Mr Materre
Le Monde Illustré, April 14, 1877
MJV C116
In Amiens, on April 2, 1877, Jules Verne and his wife Honorine held a masquerade ball: « On Easter Monday, we are throwing a masquerade ball, with 700 invitations sent, 350 accepted at least. The whole town is talking about it ». The reception took place in the salons Saint-Denis, magnificently decorated for the occasion. Many guests took their inspiration for their costumes from the characters from Voyages Extraordinaires.
Gédéon Basil
Grrrrreat Around-The-World Inn
Poster, Amiens, 1885
Exhibition print (Amiens city library)
On March 8, 1885, Jules Verne appeared in cook’s livery to welcome his guests to the masked ball held at his Amiens home. The theme chosen: travel! For the occasion, the house at no. 2 rue Charles Dubois was transformed into a « grande auberge du tour du monde » (a great « around the world » inn) Jules and Honorine dressed as innkeepers while their guests wore traditional costumes from different countries around the world.
Visiting card signed by Jules Verne
End of the 19th century
MJV B1
Postcard dedicated by Jules Verne to Madame la Comtesse de [Franclieu]
1903
MJV B2
Jules Verne
The Desert of Ice, The Adventures of Captain Hatteras
Hetzel publishing house, Paris, circa 1865
MJV A4908
This book, dedicated by the author’s hand, was sent to the Nantes library: « Hommage à la Bibliothèque de Nantes, Jules Verne » (a tribute to the Nantes library)
Pierre Louÿs
Graphologial notes
Late 19th – early 20th century
MJV B232
Pierre Louÿs, poet, novelist and bibliography enthusiast, wrote thousands of work notes. Among these notes, four pages are devoted to the graphological study of Jules Verne. This technique for analysing hand-writing aims to decipher a person’s psychological characteristics. This discipline developed in the 19th century and remained active until the middle of the 20th century in Europe and in the USA.
According to the notes of Pierre Louÿs, his study of Jules Verne’s writing describes the writer’s intentions as being mature, thoughtful, offensive and revolutionary, persevering, but also secret: « the final e of the signature places a lock on his intimate thoughts ».
Although this diagnosis tells us that Jules Verne possessed some of the heroic virtues that he bestows on his main characters, it also lets us know that he was a very « secretive » man who guarded his intimate thoughts.
Thoughts of Cicero
Translation by Abbé d’Olivet
Piget, Paris, 1747
MJV A5932
In this book written in Latin and in French, Jules Verne wrote a few notes. The first mentions theatre: « In Tragedy, the Comical is an unwelcome intruder: the Tragic is just as much so for Comedy. »
Tribute to Jules Verne 2005
Acrylic on canvas
MJV C349
Triptych painted for the World Science Fiction Convention Utopiales (Nantes, November 2005) on the initiative of Gilles Francescano, President of Art & Fact, by Thierry Cardinet, Sandrine Geslin, Didier Graffet, Hubert de Lartigue, Manchu and Pascal Yung, to be gifted to the Jules Verne Museum. Drawing on their own imagination concerning Verne’s world, its authors demonstrate the unimpaired strength of inspiration of the Nantes novelist.
