First serialized in 1872, Jules Verne’s Tour of the World in 80 Days is the definitive adventure of the Victorian era. It follows the unflappable Phileas Fogg and his resourceful valet, Passepartout, as they attempt to circumnavigate the globe on a wager of £20,000. While famously a story of steamships, elephants, and a race against the clock, the novel is also a sophisticated celebration of 19th-century technological progress and the shrinking of the world through the telegraph and the railway. The twist ending, involving the gain of a day through the International Date Line, remains one of the most clever literary resolutions in history, cementing Verne's legacy as a master of both scientific foresight and narrative suspense.
Edition: Early American Edition (1874).
Publisher: Hurst and Company, New York.
Binding: Original publisher's cloth with decorative stamping.
Condition Points: This copy is offered in Acceptable condition within our "Curious Copies" collection. Note: There is significant fading and staining to the front board. The binding is loose, and there is visible damage to the hinges. Most uniquely, there is a small area of bookworm damage at the bottom right-hand corner of the front pages.
Provenance: Includes period-appropriate pencil markings on the internal leaves. Despite the exterior wear and minor biological incursions of the past, the text remains a charming example of early American Verne publishing.
The Hurst & Company editions of Verne are prized for their quintessentially Victorian "look." While this 1874 copy has endured more than a century of wear—including loose hinges and past bookworm activity—it remains an authentic and highly affordable artifact of Verne's initial surge into the American market. For the "Offbeat Oddities" collector, the bookworm tracks provide a literal layer of history, marking this as a volume that was once a snack for a very literary insect. It is a perfect "cabinet of curiosity" piece or a project for a hobbyist bookbinder.
First serialized in 1872, Jules Verne’s Tour of the World in 80 Days is the definitive adventure of the Victorian era. It follows the unflappable Phileas Fogg and his resourceful valet, Passepartout, as they attempt to circumnavigate the globe on a wager of £20,000. While famously a story of steamships, elephants, and a race against the clock, the novel is also a sophisticated celebration of 19th-century technological progress and the shrinking of the world through the telegraph and the railway. The twist ending, involving the gain of a day through the International Date Line, remains one of the most clever literary resolutions in history, cementing Verne's legacy as a master of both scientific foresight and narrative suspense.
Edition: Early American Edition (1874).
Publisher: Hurst and Company, New York.
Binding: Original publisher's cloth with decorative stamping.
Condition Points: This copy is offered in Acceptable condition within our "Curious Copies" collection. Note: There is significant fading and staining to the front board. The binding is loose, and there is visible damage to the hinges. Most uniquely, there is a small area of bookworm damage at the bottom right-hand corner of the front pages.
Provenance: Includes period-appropriate pencil markings on the internal leaves. Despite the exterior wear and minor biological incursions of the past, the text remains a charming example of early American Verne publishing.
The Hurst & Company editions of Verne are prized for their quintessentially Victorian "look." While this 1874 copy has endured more than a century of wear—including loose hinges and past bookworm activity—it remains an authentic and highly affordable artifact of Verne's initial surge into the American market. For the "Offbeat Oddities" collector, the bookworm tracks provide a literal layer of history, marking this as a volume that was once a snack for a very literary insect. It is a perfect "cabinet of curiosity" piece or a project for a hobbyist bookbinder.
