The following selected scans are of the Gaf View-Master reels and packaging for Jules Verne’s sci-fi classic 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.  

More View-Master goodies can be seen here Thanks for looking 🙂

Reels and packaging images

Slide images

It’s really finicky trying to get images of View-Master slides which are less than an inch in size and more than fifty years old! I tried scanning them at first – to no avail, but ended up with some half-decent camera shots using my trusty Fuji. The set designs and character figures for the narrative are pretty stunning I think.

Thanks for looking 🙂 And big thanks to good friend and fellow WP blogger Spira who sent me the above View-Master reel in a recent trade. Please check out Spira’s wonderful art blog inspiration

Bonus TVTA trivia: 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea by French writer Jules Verne was originally published in serial format throughout 1869 and 1870. Its first translation into English language occurred in 1873, with many errors in the translation of Verne’s French, including some character changes. The French title – Vingt mille lieues sous les mers  actually means Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas – plural, not Sea singular, and relates to the distance travelled under the sea – 80,000 kilometres, and not the depth. The farthest depth reached as mentioned in the novel is only 4 leagues. The novel’s full French title is Vingt mille lieues sous les mers: Tour du monde sous-marin, “Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas: A Tour of the Underwater World”. Translation and character errors occurred up until the 1960s and 1990s when attempts were made to translate the novel faithfully to Verne’s original.