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. In the spring of 1863 Professor Lidenbrock finds a secret, runic manuscript, that was written by an Icelandic alchemist hundreds of years before. It tells about a journey to the center of the earth which this alchemist claims to have made. Lidenbrock, his nephew Axel and their guide Hans decide to follow this route into a secret subterranean world ... An adventure classic for the past hundred and several hundred more years to come!