Evening Telegraph (First Edition)
Book was 27 years
Artist Gary illustrates classic by Jules Verne
IT has taken him 27 years — but a Dundee man has finally completed a project which has seen him illustrate every page of a classic novel.
Jules Verne’s 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea was published in 1870 and is one of the first science fiction books ever written.
It tells the story of three accidental visitors to an underwater world hosted by the mysterious Captain Nemo.
Inspired by the striking imagery in books of yesteryear, Gary Burley, from Lochee, started illustrating each page of the classic when he was just 23 in an effort to create a “beautiful” book.
Now — 27 years and 600 pictures later — he has finished the project.
During the near three-decade project, Gary worked in coal mines and even found himself homeless.
Gary, who describes his drawing style as “classic” with inspiration from Russian artwork, today told the Tele that he “just wanted to do it”.
He said: “Twenty-eight years ago I was in a museum which had rare and priceless books and I saw books that were so beautiful.
“I saw one book by William Morris and it was the most beautiful book in existence.
“I looked at it and thought people don’t make books like this anymore.
“That is when I got the idea that I wanted to make a book like that — a book which was done for more than just money or for yourself and one that fitted with the old books that looked beautiful.
“They just don’t make books like that any more. I spent the first 25 years drawing and then the next two years were spent actually putting the book together.
“Seven or eight years ago, I was on the bus and I picked up a newspaper and there was a column by a journalist saying they had all these rubbish books out now about Kim Kardashian or Justin Bieber.
“He went on to say that he wanted to see things like 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.
“I wanted to scream at the paper that I was working on it and he needed to give me a chance. To be honest, I never really planned on getting this finished.
“I have spent so much of my life doing it that now it is finished I kind of miss it.
“If I do anything like it again it will be a smaller project — instead of 700 pages, it will be 200 or something like that.
“I had thought that I would be doing this until I was 30.
“Some of the pictures take a lot longer than others — some took weeks. The thing is, when you are using pen, one slip can ruin everything.
“You could be working on a picture for ages and then you need to start all over again.”
Throughout the time Gary was illustrating the book, he worked in coal mines, washed dishes in restaurants and had a host of other jobs.
He even found himself homeless for three years — but he always continued working on the book.