Around the World in Eighty Days (The whole story) [Hardcover]

Very little is known about the mysterious Phileas Fogg. A man of regular and discreet habits, he is a stickler for routine and appears to be set in his ways. His new manservant, the intrepid Passepartout, observes, 'I've seen people at Madame Tussaud's as lively as my new master!' But he is soon to be proved mistaken in his first estimation of Fogg. In response to a wager, Phileas Fogg accepts the challenge to go around the world in 80 days, no mean feat in 1872. His servant is amazed but enters into the spirit of the bet with enthusiasm. So begins a race against the clock that retains its sense of drama and excitement, even for a modern audience. Their travels across the world open up visions of new continents; the descriptions carrying a quaint charm for contemporary readers. They encounter 'Indian dancing-girls, clothed in rose-coloured gauze', bumpy rides across India on an elephant and exotic nights punctuated by 'occasional growls from panthers and chatterings of monkeys'. The cool Fogg is full of surprises, breaking his journey to perform heroic stunts such as rescuing a beautiful Indian princess from her fate as a human sacrifice. His servant is forced to use all his skills to keep up with Fogg's plans. He secures a passage to the United States by virtue of his ability to sing standing on his head, with a top spinning on his left foot and a sabre balanced on his right. This is a tale of dramatic adventures, full of colourful descriptions of exotic people and places. The story moves at a brisk pace, conveying the tension and excitement of the challenge. This is a beautifully illustrated, quality version of a timeless classic. One to treasure. (8+yrs) (Kirkus UK)

An entry in The Whole Story series, this is an annotated edition of the 1873 classic, printed on coated stock and enhanced by both atmospheric new paintings and hundreds of postage-stamp-sized 19th-century photos and prints. The explanatory captions (credited to Jean-Pierre Verdet only on the copyright page) accompanying the latter are largely superfluous, although they do add random snippets of historical background to the journey. It's the views of old ships and trains, of costumed natives, and distant ports of call - from Port Said to San Francisco - that evoke the tale's panorama of the exotic, just as the many lurid Verne trading cards and other spinoffs capture the plot's melodramatic highlights. A good way to put both book and story in context for young armchair travelers. (Kirkus Reviews) --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Shocking his stodgy colleagues at the exclusive Reform Club, enigmatic Englishman Phileas Fogg wagers his fortune, undertaking an extraordinary and daring enterprise: to circumnavigate the globe in eighty days. With his French valet Passepartout in tow, Verne’s hero traverses the far reaches of the earth, all the while tracked by the intrepid Detective Fix, a bounty hunter certain he is on the trail of a notorious bank robber. Set from the text of George M. Towle’s original 1873 translation, this Modern Library Paperback Classic of Verne’s adventure novel comes vividly alive, brilliantly reflecting on time, space, and one man’s struggle to reach beyond the bounds of both science and society. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

First serialized in a French newspaper in 1872, this is perhaps the most beloved and the most enduring of Jules Verne's novels of imaginative escapades. When Englishman Phileas Fogg takes on a bet of £20,000 from his gentlemen's club that he cannot circumnavigate the globe in 80 days or less--an unheard-of feat in the Victorian world--he sets off, with his manservant Passepartout at his side, on an series of exotic exploits and comic misadventures (Fogg is mistaken for a thief on the run by a pursuing Scotland Yard detective). An inspiration to generations of writers and readers, Verne's fiction remains compelling and thoroughly enjoyable today. French author JULES GABRIEL VERNE (1828-1905) is considered the father of modern science fiction. Among his many groundbreaking books are Journey to the Center of the Earth (1864), From the Earth to the Moon (1865), and 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1870)
--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

In 1863, Jules Verne (1828-1905) published Five Weeks in a Balloon, and struck a new vein in fiction - stories that combined popular science and exploration. He wrote 54 novels in the Extraordinary Voyages series. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.