The ubiquitous interviewer has been chosen as the motif of this feat of Jules Verne's imagination, and in the company of Claudius Bombarnac, special correspondent of the Twentieth Century, the reader has the full advantage of the romancer's opportunities. The shadowy and unknown regions of Central Asia, or the boundary land between Europe and that continent, are rapidly passed on the Grand Transasiatic Railway, which the author's magic wand speedily makes ready for use. The strange sights and experiences with which the book is crammed may or may not be true, nor can they easily be tested by the critic. He is fain to accept what Bombarnac, with the special correspondent's characteristic veracity, chooses to tell him. As the story is too full of detail to be told in a line or two, we must leave our readers to gather its wonders for himself. They are, we may assure him, inferior to none of the author's previous efforts in that direction.

This is the fully illustrated and extended annotated edition including a rare and extensive biographical essay on the author, his life and works plus a wealth of illustrations. The ubiquitous interviewer has been chosen as the motif of this feat of Jules Verne's imagination, and in the company of Claudius Bombarnac, special correspondent of the Twentieth Century, the reader has the full advantage of the romancer's opportunities. The shadowy and unknown regions of Central Asia, or the boundary land between Europe and that continent, are rapidly passed on the Grand Transasiatic Railway, which the author's magic wand speedily makes ready for use. The strange sights and experiences with which the book is crammed may or may not be true, nor can they easily be tested by the critic. He is fain to accept what Bombarnac, with the special correspondent's characteristic veracity, chooses to tell him. As the story is too full of detail to be told in a line or two, we must leave our readers to gather its wonders for himself. They are, we may assure him, inferior to none of the author's previous efforts in that direction.