Publisher, Editor. He is best known as the 19th-century French publisher and editor of Jules Verne's science fiction novels including "Journey to the Center of the Earth" in 1864, "Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea" in 1870 and "Around the World in Eighty Days" in 1872. Verne's adventure novels are considered the pioneers of science fiction publications. He published Verne's earliest writings in a series in his "Magazine of Education and Entertainment." After Verne's international success, he signed Verne to a long contract. He edited Verne's 54 sequential Voyage novels with the challenge of accuracy, continuing events from one novel to the next without error. Typically bounded in scarlet red and gold covers, Verne's novels have ranked highly as a collector's item in the 21st century. As an older mentor for 24 years, he pushed Verne to rewrite his submissions for publication, collaborating or censoring Verne's ideas. Some critics and scholars question how much collaboration was done, and that he may have actually written parts of Verne's books. A collection of 430 letters from Verne to Hetzel and 250 letters of replies from Hetzel were published in 2001. He rejected Verne's novel "Paris in the 20th Century," but posthumously the novel was published in 1994 by Verne's grandson. He hired several illustrators for Verne's novels, but mainly George Roux was used. He had the final say to what was going to be published including the illustrations and the book cover. As a young man, Hetzel studied at Chartres, continued in Paris at Stanislas College, and studied law in Strasbourg. By 1837, he changed his career from law to starting a publishing house. He was the principal editor of Victor Hugo, Honoré de Balzac, and Émile Zola. He translated the writing of Ukrainian author Marko Vovchok. He translated to French Louisa May Alcott's novel "The Four Daughter of Dr. Marsch." Besides being an editor, he was an author using the penname Pierre-Jules Stahl, writing in the French language. Mainly for the youth audience, he wrote at least ten novels, none being science fiction, and none are readily available in the 21st century. In 1842 he published his two volumes of "Scenes from the Private and Public Life of Animals," with illustrations of animals wearing human clothing. His 1845 short story "Heartache of a French Cat" was very popular with five editions. From 1851 to 1855, he was in exile in Belgium for political reasons. He produced illustrations for books using the name Pierre-Jules Stahl, and a few are displayed at the National Gallery of Art in Washington D.C. and the National Library of Israel.