"The man stood still in the middle of the courtyard and looked at the house. It was a big, majestic building, half brick and half stone. Flanked by a round tower, it seemed to be as much a part of the lighthouse as the manor and could have served as a setting for some fantastic story."
La Maison de Jules Verne, Encrage Edition, François, Hautière, Amiens Métropole, Amiens, 2006.
 


In 1882 Jules Verne and his wife Honorine settled into the house at the corner of rue Charles Dubois and boulevard Longueville. They remained tenants there until 1900. He is 54 and his fame is at summit. The house was spacious with two storeys, wide roof trussings and a tower surmounted by a belvedere. The kitchen, the outbuildings and the stables occupied the big left wing of the building (now the reception hall).

Much like the other houses of the area at that time, the House with the tower is built of red bricks, coated with rose towards the street and with clear coloured joints towards the courtyard. The transoms, cornices and windowsills were in limestone. A big garden in the back which extended from the actual courtyard disappeared in the 1970s. The first floor of the house was reserved for the bedrooms which were accessed by the spiral staircase of the tower. The writer’s study was installed on the second floor at the corner of the building.

   
1854-1858 : Construction of the house for the solicitor Jean-Baptiste-Gustave Riquier.
1882-1900 : Period during which Jules Verne lived there.
1980 : Acquired by the Town of Amiens.
1987 : Transformation work of the ground floor into a museum.
1988 : First public opening.
1998 : Registration on the Additional Inventory of Historical Monuments.
2000 : Acquisition of the Piero Gondolo della Riva Collection by Amiens Métropole (30,000 documents and objects).
2004 : Dossier of the complete restoration of the House by Amiens Métropole.
avril 2005 : Work started.
24 mars 2006 : Reopening to the public.
   

In this mid 19th Century house the ground floor has largely preserved its original decoration. It is this floor of the house that has changed the least since Jules Verne left.

The Winter garden
The main entrance at Jules Verne’s time this winter garden is a well-lit space where the glasswork offers a view of the house tower. The plates and Chinese pottery which ornament the walls as well as the plants are characteristic of the taste for the exoticism in the 19th Century.
The dining room
The dining room is the only place in the house to have kept its original decoration with its neo-gothic furniture and its coffered ceiling. When Jules and Honorine Verne used to live there it was separated from the kitchen by the hall. The kitchen was located where the reception window can now be found and between the two spaces a small room served as the everyday dining room. The furniture of this ceremonial dining room which only served on grand occasions was rebuilt in the style of the period. Numerous objects which belonged to Jules Verne and his wife are presented in the cupboards; others came from his editor Pierre-Jules Hetzel's family.
The big living room or music room
You can discover the original decoration of this room on the photographic enlargement found opposite. You will notice the intricate decoration and the dark walls, characteristic of the period.

During that period, Honorine Verne often held parties for friends there.
The big portraits represent Jules Verne and his wife Honorine.
From one side of the fireplace to the other, photographs of the Verne family are presented including Pierre Verne (1799-1871), Jules Verne’s father and Sophie Allotte de la Fuÿe (1801-1887), Jules Verne’s mother.

Pierre and Sophie Verne had five children, two boys, Jules in 1828 followed by Paul in 1829, then after an interval of eight years, three daughters, Anna, Mathilde and Marie who were born in 1837, 1839 and 1842. Marie Verne can be seen in the room.
The small lounge called the smoking room
The photographs representing the members of the Verne family are gathered in this lounge including Paul Verne and his wife Berthe as well as Michel Verne (1861-1925), Jules Verne's only son. The display cabinets present Jules Verne's studies and his first writings : words of songs and fictional writings which appeared in the review Le Musée des familles.
Jules Verne’s literary beginnings
This room evokes Jules Verne's start in the theatre, his favourite authors, his novels inspired by Robinson Crusoe as well as his voyages, all together. Accompanied by his brother Paul, Jules Verne went to the United States in March 1867 where he visited New York and Niagara Falls. This trip inspired him to write the novel Une ville flottante (A Floating city ).
 

The bedrooms of the Verne family used to be on the first floor of this house, the Parisian bookstore, the lounge and office of the editor Pierre-Jules Hetzel were rebuilt in their place.
Born in Chartres in 1814, Pierre-Jules Hetzel became an editor in 1836. A dedicated Republican, he was Lamartine’s collaborator during the 1848 Revolution. Forced into exile by the December 2, 1851 coup, he settled in Brussels where he continued to work as an editor. He became friends with Victor Hugo. Benefiting from the 1859 amnesty, Hetzel returned to Paris and established his publishing house at 18, rue Jacob. He gave priority to editions for youth and in 1864 launched the Magasin d’éducation et de récréation (Education and Recreation Magazine).
In 1865 the publication of Jules Verne’s Cinq semaines en ballon (Five weeks in a balloon) inaugurated the series Voyages extraordinaires (Extraordinary Voyages).
 
The story of the two men became intimately bound. Inspirer, critic, moraliser, Pierre-Jules Hetzel registered Jules Verne in his programme “of education and recreation”.
   
The Hetzel bookstore  
Pierre-Jules Hetzel first published Jules Verne’s books as serials in the Magasin d’éducation et de récréation then in small format paperback edition. But it was in the large format edition (large 8vo: 28 x 20 cm format) presented in magnificent cardboard bindings that the Voyages extraordinaires are especially known.
The technique of cardboard binding for book covers became widespread in the 19th Century. Unlike traditional binding where all the parts of the book are sewn together, cardboard binding was done by casing elements that were separately manufactured.
On one side the pages were sewn together and on the other the cover often in cloth, was pasted to cardboard. The two elements were put together by simple pasting. More than twenty cardboard bindings have been counted for the Voyages extraordinaires. Jules Verne's work alone was the source of such profusion. Their popularity was of course associated with the phenomenal success of Jules Verne's novels. It was also associated with the aesthetic qualities of the decoration Hetzel chose , which he cared to change as taste changed in the public.
 
The Hetzel office  
Area dedicated to the editor with objects which belonged to him including the armchair from his office lounge at 18, rue Jacob in Paris. Likewise, the card cabinet containing Hetzel’s private library cards, updated until the 1950s.
   
The Hetzel living room  
This big room presents on one hand Hetzel's living room with his two armchairs, his unit chairs and pedestal table and especially the editor's sofa on which George Sand, Jules Verne, Victor Hugo, Alexandre Dumas among others, have sat. On the wall are the photographs of the Hetzel family: Pierre-Jules Hetzel, his wife Sophie and their son Louis-Jules Hetzel. In 1886 the latter took over the business from his father but he turned over the publishing house to Hachette in 1914.
 
Jules Verne’s life in Amiens
The other part of the room is dedicated to Jules Verne's life in Amiens. Jules Verne moved to Amiens in 1871 in order to get closer to his wife’s family.

In 1873 he bought a house at 44, boulevard Longueville (now boulevard Jules Verne). In 1882 he left this house and rented the house with the tower until 1900. But it was in n° 44 that he died on March 24, 1905. As of 1872 Jules Verne became committed to local life. Among other things he became a member of the Amiens Academy, the Industrial Society, the Horticultural Society, Administrator of the Savings Bank and most importantly Jules Verne was nominated Town Councillor for 16 years (1888-1904). In this capacity he made numerous speeches including the inauguration speech for the amphitheatre on June 24, 1889.
 
After a detour in Jules Verne’s maritime universe you will discover his work area, a source of inspiration and a writing office. Since the renovation of the house this study has been given back its original decoration and placement.
 
Nautical voyages
Welcome aboard Jules Verne’s boat, the Saint-Michel III. This reconstruction will take you on a discovery inside an English yacht of the second half of the 19th Century. The cabin overlooks Le Crotoy where from 1865 to 1869 Jules Verne rented a second home called La Solitude. It is on the writing case presented in this room that Jules Verne started to write Vingt mille lieues sous les mers (Twenty thousand leagues under the sea) in 1869.
   
The library  
On this floor Jules Verne had a library of approximately 12,000 works which he consulted for the writing of his novels. The works that were most often consulted were those by Homère, Montaigne, Shakespeare, Cooper, Dickens, Walter Scott, Edgar Poe…
Like all writers, Jules Verne drew on his general knowledge which he enriched through constant reading :
"Long before being a novelist, I always took numerous notes while reading books, newspapers, magazines or scientific reviews.
These notes were and are all classified according to the subject that they concern and I can hardly tell you how inestimable the value of this documentation is".
 
The study  
It was in the smallest room of the house that Jules Verne wrote his novels. There, between 5 O' clock and 11 O' clock in the morning he gave birth to over thirty novels including Mathias Sandorf, Deux ans de vacances (Two year holiday) and Château des Carpathes (The Castle of the Carpathians). If you are quiet you might hear Jules Verne writing a new Voyage extraordinaire !
The office is an identical renovation of Jules Verne’s time with an iron bed for resting, a leather armchair and a desk. The globe on the desk belonged to Jules Verne, along with his mechanical pencil and two of his penholders used up until the end of his life.
   
Around the world in 80 days  
This is the occasion to tread on Jules Verne’s sources of inspiration but also on the map of the tour of the world that is on the floor. Jules Verne traced in black, the route of a tour of the world by air imagined for his novel Robur-le-Conquérant (Robur the Conqueror) on this map. The hachures represent the different changes made by the author.
Written in 1872 by Jules Verne, Le Tour du monde en 80 jours remains the most translated French novel in the world. This story also gave birth to numerous derivative products during the author's lifetime. Here, you are presented with lottery and snakes and ladders games, figurines, a series of dessert dishes, illustration series and even wallpaper inspired by the novel.
   
Twenty thousand leagues under the sea  
The worldwide Exposition of Paris in 1867 gave Jules Verne the inspiration for this submarine theme. Recent experiments with the first submarines and the changes in diving suits were given the place of honour there. The idea of writing a novel on this theme was moreover, suggested to him by George Sand after she had read his first novels. On the subject of his novel Jules Verne wrote "my readers are my passengers and my duty is to ensure that they are properly treated during the voyage and satisfied on their return". In the company of Captain Nemo, the great voyage under the sea would stay true to its promise.
 
The attic is a place where our souvenirs accumulate by successive layers. Abandoned objects are saved there. The family attic with souvenir trunks old pictures, games that have been put away, magic lanterns, posters... Jules Verne's attic is also that of the successive lives of his novels from their birth to us.
Cinema posters, a real film clapper, puppets theatres, models everything here incites the pursuit of the dream…
   
Extraordinary machines
Flying machines that were imagined by Jules Verne are exposed on the ceiling. The Albatros, the Go-Ahead and the Epouvante (Terror) are from two novels, Robur-le-Conquérant (Robur the Conqueror) and Maître du monde (Master of the World).

Jules Verne in the theatre
The theatre was one of Jules Verne’s passions. Plays that were a big show at the Châtelet or the Porte Saint-Martin as much as the puppets theatre gave new impetus, before the cinema and for several generations, to the dreams of adventure and imagination of his time.
In a big display case two American playbills for the theatre adaptations of Les Enfants du Capitaine Grant (The Children of Captain Grant) and Michel Strogoff which belonged to Jules Verne are exposed.
   
Jules Verne does his act  
Over 200 films based on 35 novels and short stories by Jules Verne were produced between 1901 and 2006. Captain Nemo’s odyssey in Vingt mille lieues sous les mers (Twenty thousand leagues under the sea) was most often reproduced. It inspired thirty-one films, far ahead of Le Tour du Monde en 80 jours (Around the world in 80 days) with 24 films and Michel Strogoff with 23 adaptations.