The original 1864 version of the book can be read on line at: http://fr.wikisource.org/wiki/Voyage_au_centre_de_la_Terre
However, it is interesting to note that a year earlier, another French author published a book called *"*La terre avant le deluge*"* ** According to one historian some of the ideas Jules Vernes used came from that earlier author's story. It is also interesting to note some of the effects this story had on future stories and movies and culture: For example, Here is a movie about a character named Wanda Saknussemm http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/3/33/Alien_from_LA.jpg/387px-Alien_from_LA.jpg And here is a map of the inside of the earth, showing giant cave-like passages: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f0/Pellucidar-map.gif This map appeared in a book by the author of the Tarzan series, Edgar Burroughs, just 44 years after Jules Vernes' book was published in English. I bet cavers have used this map, or Vernes story to name things in caves. David Locklear