Prologue

On the last week of March, 2004, while vacationing in Paris, I had by chance spent most of a rainy afternoon in my late aunt's attic. I was there to help in settling her estate and while perusing a series of bound letters found in a musty trunk, I came across... well read on and see for yourself.

P. Fogg: A Memoir

As I read this document I came to realize that this was the memoir of THE Phileas Fogg, the famous hero of Jules Verne's "Around the World in 80 days." He was not a fictitious character, nor for that matter, were the others like Passepartout, Aouda and Inspector Fix.

On returning the United States I set to reading the "Memoirs" and found they covered a good portion of Mr. Fogg's life. I have taken the liberty of transcribing his text from the original French and further have placed some of the more pertinent material omitted from Mr. Verne's classic tale back into it at the most likely parts. No doubt some will say this is a desecration of a classic. It may be. For those with feelings strong in that regard, I say, do not read this story. For the remainder of you, read on, for this is clearly an unexpurgated version of the original text. Remember it was written in Victorian times. The year the novel takes place is 1872. But the memoir covers the main events in Mr. Fogg's life from 1834, when he was born until 1899 when the memoir ends abruptly with Mr. Fogg's passing. It touches on several very prominent personages of the times along the way. It contains very lurid descriptions of his sex life and includes some of the same with respect to Passepartout and Aouda, who became Mrs. Fogg on finishing the trip round the world.

How it arrived in my aunt's attic is quite another story.