The Children of Captain Grant

«The Children of Captain Grant» — the first book of the «Trilogy of Captain Nemo». An unexpected find in the belly of a shark, a mysterious note sealed in a bottle, sends our heroes on a quest to find the... missing captain. During their journey, they will cross several continents, experience numerous adventures, and return home victorious. All illustrations are created by the master of book graphics Petr Lugansky, an artist who managed to wonderfully convey the exciting plot with pen and brush.

The novel «The Children of Captain Grant» was first published in Paris as a separate book in 1868. It became the first part of the trilogy about Captain Nemo. On its pages, Jules Verne embodied his childhood dream of travel. From Nantes, where in 1834 the future writer went to school, to the vastness of the Atlantic was only 50 km. From the banks of the Loire, where his father had a summer house, the masts of ships were visible. The governess of the boarding school attended by Jules captivatingly told her pupils about the sea adventures of her missing husband, the ship's captain. Jules' father wanted his son to become a lawyer, and he began studying law in Paris. Dissatisfaction with his own life gave rise to a yearning for writing in the young man. Jules Verne's dream came true. He became a world-renowned traveler into the fantastic world of wonders and the unknown. From the royalties of his novels, which still captivate readers around the world today, Jules Verne purchased first a small boat, and then a yacht, which became his «floating study» for many years. By the end of his life, the writer not only earned the fame of a classic of adventure literature and the founder of science fiction but also became a member of the French Geographic Society.

The illustrations for «The Children of Captain Grant» in this edition were created by the remarkable draftsman Petr Ivanovich Lugansky. The future artist was born in 1911 in the village of Bokovo, Lugansk province. After finishing his seven-year education, he went to Kharkov, where he entered one of the oldest art educational institutions in Ukraine, which was a kind of analogue of the Stieglitz School in St. Petersburg. Soon, Petr Ivanovich became a universal professional. He painted with watercolor and charcoal, engaged in lithography, engraving, and easel painting. His work at the Leningrad «Uchpedgiz» was interrupted by the war. During the fighting, Lugansky managed to sketch the life of soldiers and draw portraits of his comrades. After the victory over fascist Germany, illustrating books became the main creative endeavor for the artist. He collaborated with the magazine «Koster», drawing for the publishing houses «Detgiz» and «Lenizdat». Lugansky illustrated «Chapayev» by Furmanov, «Two Captains» by Kaverin, «The Amphibian Man» by Belyaev, «Treasure Island» and «The Master of Ballantrae» by Stevenson, «The White Chief» by Mayne Reid, as well as books published in the series «Library of Soviet Science Fiction». Nevertheless, his favorite writer remained Jules Verne. Lugansky returned to illustrate «The Children of Captain Grant» multiple times, each time inventing different versions of drawings.