Around the World in Eighty Days
novel by Jules Verne
Around the World in Eighty Days (French: Le Tour du monde en quatre-vingts jours) is an adventure novel by the French writer Jules Verne, first published in French in 1872. In the story, Phileas Fogg of London and his newly employed French valet Jean Passepartout attempt to circumnavigate the world in 80 days on a wager of £20,000 (equivalent to £2.5 million in 2024) set by his friends at the Reform Club. It is one of Verne's most acclaimed works.
Plot
Phileas Fogg is a rich British gentleman with mathematically precise habits. He lives a solitary and modest life in London, where he is a member of the Reform Club. On 2 October 1872, after dismissing his valet for serving shaving water at the wrong temperature, Fogg hires Frenchman Jean Passepartout as a replacement. That night at the Club, Fogg gets into an argument over a newspaper article stating that, with a new railway section in India, it is now possible to circumnavigate the world in 80 days. Fogg wagers £20,000, half of his fortune, that he can achieve the feat, departing London that night and returning to the Club by 8:45 p.m. on 21 December. Accompanied by Passepartout and carrying the remaining £20,000 to cover expenses, he sets off by train.
The public source identifies “Around the World in Eighty Days” as novel by Jules Verne. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Around, World and Eighty.
Why this record matters
A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Around the World in Eighty Days”, the useful work is to connect “novel by Jules Verne” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.
Object files, edition statements, performance records and contemporary criticism preserve different stages of the work’s history. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 20, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q1219561. VIAF identifies the subject as 317005286. The Library of Congress control number is no2014011738. 4 of 4 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1872 and 2024.
Rights, attribution and provenance may remain disputed even when a general reference summary presents a stable account. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Separate the work, its editions or performances, and its later reception. Catalogue records, publication histories and object files often preserve different parts of that story.
- Identifying works and editions
- Tracing reception history
- Finding collection records
The original object or edition, catalogue raisonné, performance record, rights file and holding institution.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Around the World in Eighty Days”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Around the World in Eighty Days primary sources, Around the World in Eighty Days archive and Around research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Around the World in Eighty Days”?
- Where is authorship, date or provenance documented?
- How did later circulation or interpretation alter the work’s reception?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Around the World in Eighty Days” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.