Elephant Trip

Around the World in Eighty Days (Le Tour du monde en quatre-vingts jours) is a novel by the French writer Jules Verne published in instalments in Le Temps from 7 November (number 4225) to 22 December (number 4271) 1872, the same year in which the action is set. It was then published in its entirety on 30 January 1873.

In the year 1872, Mr. Phileas Fogg, a mysterious and solitary English gentleman, will abandon his disciplined life to fulfil a bet with the members of the Reform Club, in which he will risk part of his fortune by committing himself to circumnavigate the world in eighty days using the means available at the time. He is accompanied by his newly hired servant, Passepartout, and they are forced to contend with delays in the means of transport, as well as the persistent pursuit of Detective Fix, who enters the adventure pending a warrant for his arrest by the English Crown, which believes that Fogg has robbed the Bank of England before he leaves. Fogg and Passepartout travel through the forests of India on elephant back, down the Ganges, across the South China Sea by ocean liner in a spectacular storm, and across the snowy plains of the wild American West. The inquisitive Passepartout keeps getting into trouble of all kinds, while Fogg, first and foremost a gentleman, does not hesitate to save the life of a young widow, which could have cost him his fortune. A trio who end up using all their ingenuity to get back to London. Will they make it in time?

The reverse of the coin depicts Phileas and Passepartout’s passage through India, riding an elephant through the jungle.

The obverse depicts the many means of transport of the time that our two protagonists used to accomplish their feat.

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