Archive Record
- Publisher
- QuantumArcPress.io
- Imprint
- Quantum Digital Publishing
- Language
- English
- Pages
- 255
- Published
- 2025
- Series
- Michael Strogoff
- ISBN, paperback
- 978-1-967405-10-7
- ISBN, hardcover
- 978-1-967405-11-4
Spotted "Quantum Digital Publishing" on Amazon or Bowker? Same family, different name tag. QDP holds the ISBNs; QuantumArcPress.io is where the books live.
About the book
Jules Verne published Michel Strogoff in 1876, and it is still the fastest book he ever wrote. There is no submarine and no balloon. There is a man, a horse, a river, and a distance that should not be possible to cross. The Tartar revolt has cut Siberia off from Moscow. The telegraph line is down. The Czar's brother is sealed inside Irkutsk with a traitor already on the road to him. One courier is sent, on foot and on horseback and by raft, carrying a letter he is not allowed to lose and not allowed to read.
What has kept the book alive for a hundred and fifty years is that the obstacle is never a machine. It is weather, and geography, and the fact that Michael Strogoff is travelling under a false name and cannot ask anyone for help. He meets Nadia, who is going the same way for her own reasons. He meets two war correspondents who supply nearly all of the book's comedy. He meets Ivan Ogareff, and that meeting costs him more than the story tells you at first.
Quantum Arc Press publishes this novel in more than one shape, because there is more than one reason to read it. Some readers want Verne exactly as the nineteenth century met him, illustrations and long sentences and all. Others want the story to move the way it moved for its first readers, which in English today means a fresh translation rather than a faithful one. Both are here. Neither is a summary, an abridgement, or a retelling for children.
The Original 1876 edition is the classic English text, illustrated, kept as it was. Read this one for the period voice and the plates. The Modern English edition is a new translation into the language people actually speak now. The plot is not touched. The sentences are. Read this one if a nineteenth century paragraph has ever made you put a book down. The Spanish edition brings the same modern treatment to Spanish readers.
The novel comes in two books, and both editions follow that split. Book I is the journey out: the mission, the disguise, the road east, and the closing trap. Book II is capture, punishment, escape, and the siege of Irkutsk. They are two halves of one story and neither stands alone. The Box Set is both halves of the Modern English edition in a single volume, which is the version to buy if you already know you are going to finish it.
If you have never read Verne, this is a better place to start than the famous ones. There is no science to date, no invention to smile at. There is only a man with a letter, and everything between him and the person who needs it.
Who it is for
- You want a nineteenth century adventure that never slows down.
- You have bounced off classic prose before and want a version that reads like now.
- You want the original text, with the period illustrations, kept as it was.
- You read in Spanish and want the same modern treatment.
- You are buying a gift and want the whole story in one volume.
What is inside
Book I: the road east
The Czar's order, the false name, and five thousand miles of country that is already turning against him. Ends where every reader remembers it ending.
Book II: Irkutsk
Capture, the sentence carried out, the escape with Nadia, and the siege. The half most people can still quote from.
Nadia, and the two journalists
Verne's best supporting cast. One shares the whole journey. The other two turn a chase into a comedy whenever the tension needs a window.
Four ways to read it
Original 1876 illustrated, Modern English, Español, and the two-in-one Box Set. Same novel, four different reasons to pick one.
How to use it
Pick the edition before you pick the format. Original 1876 if you want Verne's own English and the plates. Modern English if you want the story to move.
If you are buying both halves, the Box Set is the one volume that holds them.
Book I and Book II are one novel cut in half. Start at Book I.
Questions readers ask
Why buy it when the 1876 translation is free online?
The free text is the Victorian translation of 1876. The Modern English edition rewrites that prose into contemporary English with the plot kept whole and nothing abridged, and adds 32 original full page illustrations (17 in Book I, 15 in Book II), maps of Asiatic Russia, and a glossary in Book I.
Is Michael Strogoff science fiction?
No. It is Jules Verne's 1876 historical adventure: a courier crossing five thousand miles of Siberia to carry the Czar's warning to Irkutsk.
Which edition should I choose?
Original 1876 if you want Verne's own English and the period plates. Modern English if you want the story to move. The Spanish edition gives the same modern treatment in Spanish, and the Box Set holds both halves in one volume.
Where do I start?
Book I. Book I and Book II are one novel cut in half.
Available editions
A fresh translation into the English people speak today. The plot is untouched and nothing is abridged. This is the edition to choose if nineteenth century sentences have ever slowed you down.
The classic English text, illustrated, kept as it was published. Period voice, period plates, no modernising. For readers who want Verne exactly as his first readers met him.
The same modern treatment, in Spanish. Both books, translated for readers today rather than for the archive.
From the Archive
Sample Chapter
The opening of Book I, so you can compare the two English editions before you buy.
SoonThe Route
A map of Strogoff's journey from Moscow to Irkutsk, stage by stage.
SoonAbout the author
Juan José Piedra
Founder of Quantum Arc Press and its Quantum Digital Publishing imprint. Builds the house, curates the catalog, and stewards the Author Work-Exchange (opening January 2027), a fairer path from manuscript to market.
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