How it was written

Jules Verne imagined a long-range electric submarine decades before one existed.

1. 
   1800

   A real Nautilus

   Robert Fulton built an early submarine called Nautilus. Verne borrowed the name.

2. 
   1867

   A model at the World Fair

   At the Paris Exposition Verne studied a model of the French Navy submarine Plongeur.

3. 
   1869

   A magazine serial

   The story ran in Hetzel's magazine from March 1869 to June 1870.

4. 
   1869

   Nemo's secret

   In early drafts Nemo was a Polish noble fighting Russia. Hetzel feared the book would be banned in Russia, so Nemo's past became a mystery.

5. 
   1871

   The illustrated edition

   A deluxe edition came out with 111 pictures by Alphonse de Neuville and Édouard Riou.

6. 
   1872

   In English

   The first English translation, by Lewis Page Mercier, came out in 1872.

Read more

• Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the SeasWikipedia

Sources: 1, 2