# Around the World in Eighty Days
**Around the World in Eighty Days** (*Le Tour du monde en quatre-vingts jours*) is an adventure novel by the French writer [Jules Verne](https://www.edgepedia.org/jules-verne) (1828–1905) in which the London gentleman [Phileas Fogg](https://www.edgepedia.org/phileas-fogg) wagers £20,000 that he can circumnavigate the globe in eighty days using the transport of 1872.[1](https://catalogue.bnf.fr/ark%3A/12148/cb315626044) • [2](https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Around-the-World-in-Eighty-Days/Jules-Verne/Enriched-Classics/9781416534723) It first appeared as a serial in the newspaper *Le Temps* from 6 November to 22 December 1872, then in volume from the publisher Pierre-Jules Hetzel, and it has since been translated widely and adapted for stage, film, radio, and television, while prompting real travelers to race its fictional record.[1](https://catalogue.bnf.fr/ark%3A/12148/cb315626044) • [3](https://societejulesverne.org/bulletin/HS80.php)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Author | Jules Verne (1828–1905), French novelist and playwright[4](https://cadenaser.com/nacional/2025/02/09/la-vuelta-al-mundo-en-80-dias-una-de-las-novelas-mas-ligeras-de-julio-verne-cadena-ser/) |
| First publication | Serial in *Le Temps*, 6 November – 22 December 1872[1](https://catalogue.bnf.fr/ark%3A/12148/cb315626044) |
| Book edition | Published by Pierre-Jules Hetzel on 30 January 1873, one volume of 220 pages in the large in-8° format of the Voyages extraordinaires[5](https://jules-verne.net/l-oeuvre/les-voyages-extraordinaires/1872-1873-1-le-tour-du-monde-en-quatre-vingts-jours/) • [1](https://catalogue.bnf.fr/ark%3A/12148/cb315626044) |
| Illustrators | Alphonse de Neuville (1836–1885) and Léon Benett (1839–1916)[1](https://catalogue.bnf.fr/ark%3A/12148/cb315626044) |
| Plot premise | Fogg bets £20,000, half his fortune, at the Reform Club that he can circle the world in 80 days, departing the same evening[6](https://www.mercurytheatre.co.uk/event/around-the-world-in-80-days/around-the-world-in-eighty-days-resource-pack/) |
| Companions and pursuer | The French valet Passepartout, the Indian princess Aouda, and Detective Fix, who believes Fogg robbed the Bank of England[2](https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Around-the-World-in-Eighty-Days/Jules-Verne/Enriched-Classics/9781416534723) |
| Genre | Adventure novel, rooted in the travel technology of the 1870s[7](https://www.litcharts.com/lit/around-the-world-in-eighty-days) |
## Publication and manuscripts
Verne followed the standard Hetzel publishing sequence: a pre-original serial run, a plain volume edition, and a larger illustrated edition sold toward the gift season.[8](https://gallica.bnf.fr/selections/fr/html/litteratures/jules-verne-1828-1905) The serial ran in *Le Temps* from 6 November to 22 December 1872; the small original in-18 edition of 1872 is recorded as missing from collections, and the illustrated large in-8° volume, with drawings by de Neuville and Benett, followed in 1873.[1](https://catalogue.bnf.fr/ark%3A/12148/cb315626044) • [9](https://www.cite-sciences.fr/archives/francais/ala_cite/expositions/jules_verne/bio/Verne_integrale_des_oeuvres.pdf) The surviving fair-copy manuscript, written in a large and partly calligraphic hand, was deposited in 1965 by the Hetzel heirs, with other manuscripts and correspondence, at the manuscript department of the [Bibliothèque nationale de France](https://www.edgepedia.org/bibliotheque-nationale-de-france) (nouveaux acquisitions françaises 16932 to 17152).[3](https://societejulesverne.org/bulletin/HS80.php)
The Bibliothèque nationale records that the book was inspired for Verne by "La semaine des trois dimanches" (Three Sundays in a Week), one of Edgar Poe's unpublished tales, in the William Hughes translation published in the Hetzel collection in 1862.[1](https://catalogue.bnf.fr/ark%3A/12148/cb315626044) That tale turns on a calendrical puzzle about days gained and lost in eastward and westward travel, the same device that decides the outcome of Fogg's wager.
## The story and its setting
The action is set in 1872, the year of publication. Fogg, punctual and predictable, hires the French valet Passepartout, then learns at the [Reform Club](https://www.edgepedia.org/reform-club) of a recent bank robbery and bets £20,000, half his fortune, that he can return to that same room by quarter to nine on Saturday 21 December.[6](https://www.mercurytheatre.co.uk/event/around-the-world-in-80-days/around-the-world-in-eighty-days-resource-pack/) The bet hinges on newly established infrastructure: the [Suez Canal](https://www.edgepedia.org/suez-canal)'s opening, the growth of India's railways, and the building of the First Transcontinental Railroad in the United States.[7](https://www.litcharts.com/lit/around-the-world-in-eighty-days) Fogg and Passepartout travel east from London by rail, steamship, elephant, sailboat, and sledge, stopping in Suez, Bombay, Hong Kong, San Francisco, and New York.[2](https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Around-the-World-in-Eighty-Days/Jules-Verne/Enriched-Classics/9781416534723)
A running source of suspense is Detective Fix of the London police, who follows the pair from Suez convinced that Fogg is the man suspected in the robbery of the [Bank of England](https://www.edgepedia.org/bank-of-england), delaying him with engineered charges and finally arresting him at Liverpool on the morning of 21 December.[2](https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Around-the-World-in-Eighty-Days/Jules-Verne/Enriched-Classics/9781416534723) • [6](https://www.mercurytheatre.co.uk/event/around-the-world-in-80-days/around-the-world-in-eighty-days-resource-pack/) In India the travelers rescue Aouda from becoming a human sacrifice, and she joins the journey; her relationship with Fogg develops over games of whist aboard ship.[6](https://www.mercurytheatre.co.uk/event/around-the-world-in-80-days/around-the-world-in-eighty-days-resource-pack/)
The ending turns on the [International Date Line](https://www.edgepedia.org/international-date-line). Traveling eastward, Fogg and Passepartout gain a day without realizing it; the climax comes when Passepartout discovers the gain and Fogg wins his £20,000 wager.[7](https://www.litcharts.com/lit/around-the-world-in-eighty-days) With the words "Here I am, gentlemen", Fogg snatches a day from the jaws of time to make, in the words of the scholar William Butcher, one of literature's great entrances.[10](https://www.ibiblio.org/julesverne/books/awed)
## Stage, screen, and real imitations
Verne himself adapted the novel for the stage with the playwright Adolphe d'Ennery; the spectacular production opened at the Théâtre de la Porte-Saint-Martin and ran for 415 performances.[11](https://www.hoteljulesvernebiarritz.com/cache/files/jules-verne-booklet-5439.pdf) The Châtelet theater in Paris kept reviving it: in 1938, a month after [Howard Hughes](https://www.edgepedia.org/howard-hughes) flew around the world in less than four days, the theater reopened with the 1874 adaptation, still a safe bet for its management even though Fogg's fictional record had by then been beaten in real life by a factor of 20.[12](https://academic.oup.com/british-academy-scholarship-online/book/59560/chapter/502929031)
The most widely known film version is producer Michael Todd's 1956 picture, the first large-scale screen rendition of the novel, starring [David Niven](https://www.edgepedia.org/david-niven) as Fogg, Shirley MacLaine as Princess Aouda, and the Mexican comedian [Cantinflas](https://www.edgepedia.org/cantinflas) as Passepartout; Todd consolidated and perpetuated the precedents set by [Walt Disney](https://www.edgepedia.org/walt-disney)'s Verne films, along with promotions such as book tie-ins and television specials.[13](https://www.tcm.com/articles/62567/around-the-world-in-80-days) • [14](https://www.andrucki.catapult.bates.edu/around-the-world-in-80-days.html) • [15](https://academic.oup.com/kentucky-scholarship-online/book/19681/chapter-abstract/178468375) Later versions include a 2004 film in which Jackie Chan's Passepartout becomes the hero, and an eight-episode 2021 television co-production among European broadcasters, with David Tennant as a more troubled Fogg and Ibrahim Koma as Passepartout.[16](https://www.shakespearenj.org/assets/doc/2009-Around-the-World-in-Eighty-Days-Study-Guide-2372d814e7.pdf) • [3](https://societejulesverne.org/bulletin/HS80.php)
The novel prompted real races. In 1889 the New York *World* reporter [Nellie Bly](https://www.edgepedia.org/nellie-bly) embarked on a headline-grabbing assignment to circumnavigate the world in a record-setting 75 days, emulating Verne's novel, while the literary essayist Elizabeth Bisland raced her around the world in the opposite direction.[17](https://www.publishersweekly.com/978-0-345-52726-4) A stage resource pack gives Bly's time as 72 days; the two accounts differ on the exact figure.[6](https://www.mercurytheatre.co.uk/event/around-the-world-in-80-days/around-the-world-in-eighty-days-resource-pack/)
## A recurring misconception
Popular versions, including the 1956 film, often show Fogg and Passepartout traveling by hot-air balloon; in the novel they never do. Study guides attribute the image to an abstraction of Verne's earlier novel *Five Weeks in a Balloon*.[7](https://www.litcharts.com/lit/around-the-world-in-eighty-days) Readers of the serial reportedly placed real bets on the fictional wager, and some believed Fogg's travels were factual accounts; the installment describing the ending, dated 21 December 1872 within the story, appeared on that same date.[7](https://www.litcharts.com/lit/around-the-world-in-eighty-days)
## References
1. [Notice bibliographique, Le tour du monde en quatre-vingts jours, Bibliothèque nationale de France](https://catalogue.bnf.fr/ark%3A/12148/cb315626044)
2. [Around the World in Eighty Days, Enriched Classics, Simon & Schuster](https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Around-the-World-in-Eighty-Days/Jules-Verne/Enriched-Classics/9781416534723)
3. [Bulletin de la Société Jules Verne, hors-série Le Tour du monde en quatre-vingts jours (2022)](https://societejulesverne.org/bulletin/HS80.php)
4. ['La vuelta al mundo en 80 días', una de las novelas más ligeras de Julio Verne, Cadena SER](https://cadenaser.com/nacional/2025/02/09/la-vuelta-al-mundo-en-80-dias-una-de-las-novelas-mas-ligeras-de-julio-verne-cadena-ser/)
5. [1872–1873. Le Tour du monde en quatre-vingts jours, Centre international Jules Verne](https://jules-verne.net/l-oeuvre/les-voyages-extraordinaires/1872-1873-1-le-tour-du-monde-en-quatre-vingts-jours/)
6. [Around the World in 80 Days educator's resource pack, Mercury Theatre / Tilted Wig Productions](https://www.mercurytheatre.co.uk/event/around-the-world-in-80-days/around-the-world-in-eighty-days-resource-pack/)
7. [Around the World in Eighty Days Study Guide, LitCharts](https://www.litcharts.com/lit/around-the-world-in-eighty-days)
8. [Jules Verne (1828–1905), Littératures, Gallica / BnF](https://gallica.bnf.fr/selections/fr/html/litteratures/jules-verne-1828-1905)
9. [Jules Verne: l'intégrale des œuvres romanesques, Cité des sciences](https://www.cite-sciences.fr/archives/francais/ala_cite/expositions/jules_verne/bio/Verne_integrale_des_oeuvres.pdf)
10. [Around the World in Eighty Days, William Butcher, Oxford World's Classics](https://www.ibiblio.org/julesverne/books/awed)
11. [Jules Verne timeline 1870–1900, Hôtel Jules Verne Biarritz](https://www.hoteljulesvernebiarritz.com/cache/files/jules-verne-booklet-5439.pdf)
12. [Scientific Féerie and the Féerisation of Parisian Theatre, British Academy Scholarship Online](https://academic.oup.com/british-academy-scholarship-online/book/59560/chapter/502929031)
13. [Around the World in 80 Days, Turner Classic Movies](https://www.tcm.com/articles/62567/around-the-world-in-80-days)
14. [Around the World in 80 Days, Martin Andrucki, Bates College](https://www.andrucki.catapult.bates.edu/around-the-world-in-80-days.html)
15. [Establishing a Mythos as the Verne Cycle Begins, 1956–1959, Oxford Academic](https://academic.oup.com/kentucky-scholarship-online/book/19681/chapter-abstract/178468375)
16. [Around the World in Eighty Days study guide, The Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey](https://www.shakespearenj.org/assets/doc/2009-Around-the-World-in-Eighty-Days-Study-Guide-2372d814e7.pdf)
17. [Eighty Days: Nellie Bly and Elizabeth Bisland's History-Making Race Around the World, review, Publishers Weekly](https://www.publishersweekly.com/978-0-345-52726-4)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Literature and written works › Creative written works and worlds › Genre fiction categories › Historical, war, and setting-based fiction › Novels set in travel and hospitality venues*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 30, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
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