Joyous Miseries of Three Travellers in Scandinavia - Ibiblio

Jules Verne
Joyous Miseries of
Three Travellers in
Scandinavia

Jules Verne
Joyous Miseries of Three
Travellers in Scandinavia
Translated with an introduction, notes and
appendices by William Butcher
Acadian Press
2011
3

Acadian Press
© William Butcher, 2011
Published in Hong Kong, 4 May 2011
The moral rights of the authors have been asserted.
All rights reserved.
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Contents
Introduction .............................................................................. 5
Bibliography of Joyous Miseries ........................................................ 8
Chapter 1 ................................................................................ 10
Appendices ............................................................................. 31
A. Chronology of 1861 ................................................................... 31
B. Aristide Hignard ...................................................................... 32
C. Émile Lorois ........................................................................... 34
D. Artists presented by Verne .......................................................... 34
E. The manuscript ....................................................................... 35
F. The Scandinavian diary .............................................................. 37
3

Illustrations
1 Verne at about 30 ........................................................................................................ 5
2 Verne’s sketch of Norway (Scandinavian diary) ......................................................... 6
3 Verne’s sketch of a rustic house (Scandinavian diary) ............................................... 7
4 Verne’s sketch of Kastellet château, Kastelholmen, Stockholm (Scandinavian diary
— identification by Per Johan Moe) .............................................................................. 8
5 Durand-Brager, The “Roland” (1857) ........................................................................ 11
6 Durand-Brager, Panorama of Kamiesch ................................................................. 12
7 Girardet, “Port of Suez” (Le Tour du monde 1860.2 100) ........................................ 13
8 Hadamard, “One of the sailors dies in the launch of the Saint-Paul” (TdM 1861.2
88) ................................................................................................................................ 14
9 Hadamard, “Massacre of Chinese on Rossel Island” (TdM 1861.2 89) .................... 15
10 Lancelot, “Interior of the inn at Bolkesjö” (TdM 1860.2 73) .................................. 16
11 Lancelot, following Riant, “A chalet in Bamble” (TdM 1860.2 77) ......................... 17
12 Doré, “The Valley of Bolkesjö” (TdM 1860.2 68) .................................................... 18
13 Doré, “The Valley of Vestfjordal” (TdM 1860.2 72) ................................................ 19
14 Gérôme, Diogenes (1860) .......................................................................................20
15 Doré, “The Rjukandfoss” (TdM 1860.2 76) ............................................................. 21
16 Doré, “View of Lake Bandak” (TdM 1860.2 80) ..................................................... 22
17 Doré, “Lake Flatdal” (TdM 1860.2 81) .................................................................... 23
18 Doré, “Gudvangen Fjord” (TdM 1860.2 84) ........................................................... 24
19 Doré, “Bakke Church” (TdM 1860.2 85) ................................................................. 25
20 Doré, “Road to Stalheim” (TdM 1860.2 88) ........................................................... 26
21 Doré, “Vöringfoss” (TdM 1860.2 89) ...................................................................... 27
22 Dr Boeck .................................................................................................................. 28
23 Doré, “Heimdal Valley” (TdM 1860.2 92) .............................................................. 29
24 Charles Rivière, “Northern Railway Station” .........................................................30
25 The extended Verne family in about 1861 ............................................................... 31
26 Aristide Hignard, Verne’s travelling companion and collaborator ........................ 32
27 Invitation to a Dinner of the Eleven without Women (“Tuesday 6 July [1852 or
1858] — 6.30 at Brébant’s”), with 15 sketches, including Verne (centre right) and
Hignard (beside him) ................................................................................................... 33
28 The manuscript (1) .................................................................................................. 36
29 The end of the manuscript (12) ............................................................................... 37
29 Vicaire (à dr. debout), Heller (à g. debout) et Fuchs (centre debout), vers 1860 ... 37
30 Copie très approximative du dessin de Verne ........................................................ 38
31 Copie très approximative du dessin de Verne ......................................................... 39
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Introduction
The aim of the present publication, which coincides with the 150th anniversary
of Jules Verne’s journey to Norway (1861), is to make available a first
English translation of Joyous Miseries of Three Travellers in Scandinavia. At
the same time it attempts to address the critical shortfall, where very few studies
of the work have appeared in any language to date. 1
1 Verne at about 30
The humorous and high-spirited Joyeuses Misères de trois voyageurs en
Scandinavie was published in 2003, in the form of the sole surviving chapter.
This work was manifestly designed to recount Verne’s visit, with friends Aristide
Hignard and Émile Lorois, to Sweden, Norway and Denmark. 2 The writer
spent five weeks away from Paris, missing the birth of his only son Michel.
Certainly the absence constituted a poor start to biological fatherhood and a
sign of selfishness as a husband, but may perhaps be justified in terms of its
ultimate effect on the French literary landscape.
The finished book would undoubtedly have derived much from the untitled,
unpublished notebook that Verne wrote on his Scandinavian journey. Two
entries in this diary indeed give birth to crucial passages of Joyous Miseries.
One emphasises the sickness that staying in France causes him and the resultant
need to depart: “Ill if I stay/resite [sic]. To leave is a must”. This heartfelt
note will be expanded to become: “[all these] adventures, discoveries . . . ex-
1 Since the main focus of the present publication is Joyous Miseries, regrettably
the Scandinavian journey itself cannot be examined in detail.
2 The Norwegian section of the actual journey is masterfully presented by Per Johan
Moe (www.julesverne.no/english and associated pages).
5

plorations . . . made me quite ill. A nostalgia for foreign countries overwhelmed
me. To get out of France . . . where I no longer lived, no longer slept,
hardly breathed, was an absolute must.”
The second entry concerns the search for new lands: “Such people do not
go to Norway”. This will produce: “Who does not to a certain extent visit Italy,
Germany, Switzerland or Algeria! Who amongst my readers has not more or
less crossed the Alps or the Pyrenees?” In other words, the author views the
Nordic countries as remote and untravelled, as fulfilling a long-suppressed
thirst for escape, as compensation for a missing exoticism: “the savages of
Oceania, the Eskimos of Greenland, Switzerland on a grand scale.” The two
ideas together — travel outside France, to places unsullied by tourists — thus
encapsulate the conceptual core of Joyous Miseries, and may even constitute a
terse manifesto for the whole 40-year series of Extraordinary Journeys.
2 Verne’s sketch of Norway (Scandinavian diary)
Equally interesting in the light of Verne’s soon-to-take-off career is the
mention of “ten years of constant reading”, the best summary we have of his
long intellectual development in the capital. According to his account, he
scanned the 66 volumes of the Univers pittoresque magazine and took out a
subscription to the new Tour du monde. “Those illustrations,” especially,
“raised my imagination to its highest point, drawn as they were by the Dorés,
the Durant-Bragers, the Rious, the Hadamars, the Girardets, the Flandins, the
Lancelots of this world, all artists of sufficient talent to reproduce what they
had never seen”. Verne thus reveals the visual nature of his imagination — an
aspect that surprisingly few commentators have highlighted.
If, in Joyous Miseries, Doré’s sketches play a vital role for Verne’s dreams
and thoughts, his paintings, in contrast, are strongly criticised in his Salon of
1857: “there are no details, no episodes at all . . . the intelligent public are free
to say that this painting is neither worthy nor serious, and they are saying it”
(“Cinquième article”). And yet a central detail of the painting in question does
strike him: “a pretty ray of sunlight, like those that cut out a plane of light in a
room through half-open venetian blinds; Mr Doré has lovingly embraced this
beam . . . one might believe that it is a ray fraudulently introduced [into the
exhibition hall]”. This same ray, or something rather like it, will, in Paris in
the Twentieth Century, light up the hero’s living room for precisely one minute
each year. In the margin of the manuscript, Verne writes “perhaps implement”
(54). And indeed, a year or two later it will reappear, to show Lidenbrock
the path to the centre of the earth.
6

As regards Verne’s favourite writers, more are explorers here than novelists.
He likes Jules-Sébastien-César Dumont d’Urville and Alexandre Dumas
père, as well as James Cook, James Ross and John Richardson, of Scottish descent.
He loves Louis Énault’s Norway (1857), by the author who had already
guided him around North Britain. And he adores Ossian, the legendary thirdcentury
warrior, whose Gaelic poetry, modernised and perhaps largely invented
by James Macpherson, helped make Scotland a major focus of the Romantic
Movement.
The chapter, written in 1861–2, predates by mere months the encounter
with the lifelong publisher, Jules Hetzel, in about the summer of 1862. Previously
Verne had tried out various genres: gothic novel (“A Priest in 1839”),
poetry, art criticism (Salon of 1857) and theatre (about 40 works). Joyous
Miseries, however, together with Journey to England and Scotland (1859–
60) and Paris (1860, 1863), opens up the route to the famous novels. All three,
like the following books, are in prose, about a youngish hero, at least slightly
romanced and set in a precise geographical area.
3 Verne’s sketch of a rustic house (Scandinavian diary)
The two northern trips, together with the writing of them, in fact transformed
Verne. By blending the Norwegian spray with the Scotch mist he had
bottled in his innermost recesses, he finally found his voice: a potent mix of
solid geographico-historical research, visual invention and humorously selfmocking
exaggeration, shaken together but not stirred. Joyous Miseries indeed
proposes a second, equally snappy, manifesto that echoes the artistic talent
Verne so much admires: “to see while travelling those charming things
that do not exist.”
Henceforth an irresistible urge will draw him:
to the hyperboreal regions, like the magnetic needle to the North . . . I am temperamentally
drawn to cold countries . . . [According to Énault]: “As you head
north, you constantly get higher; but so uniformly and imperceptibly that you
only realise the height you have got to by looking at the rise in the barometer and
the drop in the thermometer.”
Verne equates altitude with both latitude and the deliciously frigid temperature,
joint scales measuring out his Nordic obsession. Hatteras and Lidenbrock
will result, for Énault’s three-way metaphor lies at the heart of
Verne’s prose universe. The young man who embarked on the Scottish voyage
of discovery and saw things through his mind’s eye was not the same one as
the writer who returned from the Norwegian epic.
7

Bibliography of Joyous Miseries
Gondolo della Riva, Piero, “Un Début de roman inédit”, Géo, Special Issue
“Jules Verne” [Nov. 2003], 104–5
——, “Du Nouveau sur Jules Verne grâce à un manuscrit inédit et inconnu”,
Revue Jules Verne, no. 3 (1997), 125–31
Verne, Jules, “Joyeuses misères de trois voyageurs en Scandinavie”, Géo,
Special Issue “Jules Verne” [Nov. 2003], xvii–xxii
4 Verne’s sketch of Kastellet château, Kastelholmen, Stockholm (Scandinavian
diary — identification by Per Johan Moe)
8

Jules Verne
Joyous Miseries of Three
Travellers in Scandinavia
9

Chapter 1
An obsession — Travel madness — My over-enthusiastic companions — Our
trinity — Preparations for departure — The dictionary of G. Belèze — Shopping
— A haughty visit to Baron Rotschild — Leaving the dead body behind 3 —
Invitation to the travellers’ whirligig — Farewell, beloved France, farewell! 4
I will freely confess to my readers: until then I had never left my burrow, and
the need for travel was killing me. This passion of mine, suppressed from 20
to 30, had simply got bigger and bigger. I had read everything that can be read
about journeys, and even all that cannot, and if this study had not ossified the
lobes of my brain, I must be naturally endowed.
After the peregrinations of Cook, of Ross, of Dumont d’Urville, of Richardson
and even of Alexandre Dumas, 5 enough appetite remained for me to
devour the 66 volumes of L’Univers pittoresque, an infinitely painstaking
work 6 that even the Benedictine Order’s strictest rules would not have made
obligatory reading. The adventures, discoveries, expeditions, excursions, pilgrimages,
campaigns, emigrations, explorations, itineraries, wanderings, sea
crossings, tourism — these myriad magic words, serving but a single idea, intersected,
overlapped, blended, merged and swirled in my brain. They made
me quite ill. A nostalgia for foreign countries overwhelmed me. To get out of
3 A reference to the collective decision “that if one of us succumbed while travelling,
his body would not be repatriated”.
4 The existence of the heading, summarising the chapter in note form, shows the
care with which the manuscript is presented. (Such a feature is rare in Verne’s works,
appearing principally in Five Weeks in a Balloon, Uncle Robinson, The Mysterious
Island and Two Years’ Holiday.) It may correspond to a very early stage of composition,
for Verne often produced a paragraph-by-paragraph synopsis in note form before
writing the draft manuscript of his books.
5 The explorer perhaps most often referred to in The Adventures of Captain Hatteras
is Sir John Ross (1777–1856), author of A Voyage of Discovery (1819; French
trans. 1819), who, with his nephew Sir James Clark Ross (1800–62), discovered the
Magnetic Pole (1831).
Jules-Sébastien-César Dumont d’Urville (1790–1842) studied terrestrial magnetism,
charted the South Atlantic, South Pacific and Antarctic, and discovered Adélie
and Claire Coasts.
Dr John Richardson (1787–1865) mapped the Canadian Arctic (1826), wrote
Arctic Searching Expedition (1851) and may have been a model for Dr Clawbonny in
Hatteras.
James Cook (1728–79) explored the South Pacific and North America, and discovered
Hawaii.
Verne met Alexandre Dumas père (1802–70) in January 1849 through his son
Alexandre Dumas (1824–95).
6 L’Univers pittoresque: Histoire et description de tous les peuples, de leurs religions,
mœurs, coutumes . . . (70 illustrated volumes, 1835–63). Verne’s phrase, “ouvrage
de Bénédictins”, may be taken from the publisher’s publicity material. Both
L’Univers pittoresque and Le Tour du monde were in Verne’s library.
10

France, to escape from my country of birth, to flee my motherland, where I no
longer lived, no longer slept, hardly breathed, became an absolute must.
5 Durand-Brager, The “Roland” (1857)
I am unaware whether my readers have ever been overcome by an irresistible
passion. I do hope they have. Then they will understand, and realise my
state of mind after ten years of constant reading had built up an overflow of
impatience, of temptations, of all-devouring desires. I had reached the point of
totally identifying with the great travellers whose works I absorbed. I discovered
the lands they discovered, I took possession in France’s name of the islands
where they planted their flags, I was Columbus in America, Vasco da
Gama in the Indies, Magellan in Terra del Fuego, Jacques Cartier in Canada,
Cook in New Caledonia, Durville in New Zealand, 7 everywhere and always
French, even while exploring Labrador, Mexico, Brazil, Guinea, the Congo,
Greenland, Peru or California. As Chateaubriand said, 8 I found the world too
small because people had been right round it, and I regretted that it contained
only five continents. 9
Note, incidentally, that I had never left France, 10 nor my Department, nor
Paris, nor my neighbourhood, street, home or room. It was there, surrounded
by four walls carpeted with maps and charts, that I got going from cold. But
my travel books were no longer enough. I subscribed to the review Le Tour du
monde. 11 It was the coup de grace. The engravings finished me off. Those il-
7 Christopher Columbus (1451–1506), (re)discovered America in 1492; Vasco da
Gama (1469?–1524), the first European to reach India by sea (1497–8); Ferdinand
Magellan (1480?–1521), leader of the first circumnavigation (1519–22); Jacques Cartier
(1491–1557), discovered the St Lawrence River. A near-identical list appears in
Hatteras (I xii).
8 Writer François-René de Chateaubriand (1768–1848), a distant relation by
marriage of Verne’s. Cf. “did he find the world too small because he had been right
round it?” (Hatteras II xxv), reflecting a constituent tension of Verne’s Extraordinary
Journeys in the Known and Unknown Worlds.
9 Excluding Antarctica, and presumably counting the Americas as a single continent.
10 Verne had previously visited an unidentified Continental country (1849) and
Britain (1859).
11 Magazine (1860–1914) frequently cited as a source in Verne’s draft manuscripts
(henceforth “TdM”, followed by year, volume and page number). More specifically,
as Verne says below, he was enthralled by “certain landscapes . . . of Norway
11

lustrations took my imagination to its highest point, drawn as they were by the
Dorés, the Durand-Bragers, the Rious, the Hadamars, the Girardets, the
Flandins, the Lancelots of this world, 12 all artists of sufficient talent to reproduce
what they had never seen. I had to travel at any cost, or else depart this
world. When I say at any cost, I really mean cheaply. Topping up my budget
did not cross the mind of my Chancellor of the Exchequer, and as I did not
possess a transfer system allowing the carrying over from agriculture of what
was needed for war, it did not cross my mind to travel as a nob. 13
6 Durand-Brager, Panorama of Kamiesch
Once the idea of movement had taken hold, it did not afford me a moment’s
respite. Having reflected at length, I chose the Scandinavian states as
the goal of my explorations; I was drawn to the hyperboreal regions, like the
magnetic needle to the north, without knowing quite why.
In any case, the other destinations are too easy to get to. Who does not to
a certain extent visit Italy, Germany, Switzerland or Algeria! Who amongst my
readers has not more or less crossed the Alps or the Pyrenees? It is all just a
piece of cake, and many have not bothered, seeing it as not uphill enough! I do
share their view. In any case, I am temperamentally drawn to cold countries:
Scandinavia suited me down to a T. It comprises Sweden, Norway and Denmark,
three poetic lands, vague like Ossian’s verse; 14 and there is also sea in
between, for any journey worthy of the name involves a degree of sailing.
and Denmark”: Paul Riant, “Voyage dans les États scandinaves: Le Télémark et
l’évêché de Bergen” (TdM 1860.2 49–85), and Saint-Blaise, “Voyage dans les États
scandinaves” (1861.2 161–86), or rather by their illustrators.
12 Many of these artists, especially Durand-Brager (erroneously “Durant-Berger”
in the transcription in Géo), appear prominently in TdM 1862.2, raising the possibility
that Joyous Miseries was not completed before the autumn of 1862. Detailed information
about them is provided in Appendix D.
13 The same popular expression, “trancher du nabab”, is used in Paris in the
Twentieth Century (xi). Because Verne travelled by public transport, lacked money
and was stimulated by Hignard especially — to whom the Extraordinary Journeys
therefore owe a great deal — he participated fully in Scandinavian life, able to satisfy
his curiosity about such social features as what people ate, drank, traded, sang, travelled
on, wore or spent.
14 Epic songs ascribed to the legendary Gaelic bard, Ossian, in fact mostly written
(1736–96) by Scot James Macpherson.
12

Certain landscapes published in Le Tour du monde’s coverage of Norway
and Denmark seduced me. I imagined I would discover there the savages of
the South Seas, the Eskimos of Greenland, Switzerland on a grand scale, South
America on a compact scale, my most unusual and original thoughts and
dreams, what few people had seen, at least those in the regrettable habit of
writing down their travel impressions, in sum a region that is both brand-new
and age-old, capable of fulfilling my craziest hopes. I would like to add something
that I hope will not be taken the wrong way.
7 Girardet, “Port of Suez” (Le Tour du monde 1860.2 100) 15
While reading Mr Énault’s book on Norway, 16 I found this curious passage:
“As you head north, you constantly get higher; but so uniformly and imperceptibly
that you only realise the height you have got to by looking at the
rise in the barometer and the drop in the thermometer.”
Such a claim by a pleasant writer horrified me. It turned my most basic
knowledge of physics upside down and inside out; its contrasting ideas were
charming, but would have shocked novice scholars; until then I had always
assumed that as barometers and thermometers went up mountains, they necessarily
fell in unison, due to the drop, respectively, in atmospheric pressure
and temperature. The two instruments’ antagonism seemed strange to me; I
told myself that Norway must be a curious country for such a thing to happen,
and resolved to go and observe the phenomenon for myself.
But going alone was not possible; a confidant is needed in travel, at least
as much as in tragedy. Without an accommodating Acastus, 17 who to share
your impressions with? How to take decisions by using the council’s fire to
light a single peace-pipe? Who to pass bad moods on to? I had assiduously fol-
15 Le Tour du monde, 2nd half 1860, p. 100.
16 Louis Énault (1824–1900), author of La Norvège (1857) and Angleterre,
Écosse, Irlande: Voyage Pittoresque (1859), a source for Verne’s Voyage en Angleterre
et en Écosse (1859–60).
17 Acastus, mythological king of Iolcos (Thessaly) and brother of Alcestis, who accompanies
the Argonauts; used as a generic term in Moliere.
13

lowed the course of comparative friendship of the learned A. Karr; 18 I knew
what can be made of a friend by handling him adroitly; so I needed to seek out
my better half, having decided to submit him to every whim of the other half.
I knew the best boy in the world, gentle, witty, slightly nonchalant, a little
slow, with legs too short to be a great walker, highly artistic, likely therefore
while travelling to see those charming things that do not exist.
8 Hadamard, “One of the sailors dies in the launch of the Saint-Paul” (TdM 1861.2 88)
“He’s free,” I said to myself; “he’ll be willing to follow, and that’s the term,
as I’m sure he’ll always walk behind me; let’s give it a try.”
The deed was executed one fine day; he needed no second asking to agree
to the expedition. His name was Aristide H . . . , a talented musician who
dreamed of seeing Elsinore on the pretext of writing a score for Hamlet. 19
“Scandinavia!” he exclaimed. “Visit the country of Odin, of Thor and of
Freyr! 20 The three gods of Valhalla, 21 known as the Sublime, the Equally Sublime
and the Third! 22 Adore Freya the goddess of love, Aegyr the god of the
ocean, Kar the god of winds, Loki the god of fire, Tyr the god of war and Bragi
18 Author Alphonse Karr (1808–90); conceivably an allusion to his contrast between
the quick birth of love and the slow growth of friendship (Les Femmes (1859)
128).
19 Aristide Hignard (1822–98): see Appendix B. At Elsinore (Denmark) Axel and
Lidenbrock are disappointed to find Hamlet’s castle knocked down and rebuilt
(Journey to the Centre of the Earth ix) — although in fact the majority of the building
survived the works at the end of the eighteenth century. Hignard stayed on in Denmark
after Verne was urgently called back to France by his expectant wife, and in
1868 published a five-act opera called Hamlet (M. Allotte de la Fuÿe, Jules Verne, 87;
Jean Jules-Verne, Jules Verne, 54).
20 Respectively: the leading god, god of wisdom, war, battle and death; a hammer-wielding
god associated with thunder, lightning, strength, destruction, fertility
and healing; and the god of fertility.
21 Walhalla (Fr.), or Valhalla, is a majestic hall, to which dead warriors are carried
by the Valkyries.
22 Respectively Har, Jafnhar and Thridie, early embodiments of Thor, Odin and
Freyr. Verne’s source is probably Abbé Jacques-Paul Migne, Encyclopédie
théologique: Série de dictionnaires sur toutes les parties de la science religieuse . . .
vols. 1–50, 1844–62; new series, vols. 1–52, 1851–66, in particular Dictionnaire universel
de mythologie: ancienne et moderne (1855), 1438.
14

the god of eloquence! 23 And the wolf Feuris, chained up until the last days of
the world! 24 Sacrifice to the Three Fates, 25 Urd the past, Verandi the present,
and Sihuld 26 the third! Get inspiration from the songs of the ancient Edda 27
and the colour of Scandinavian cosmogony! Sit at the hearth of that age-old
family, Snaer the snow and his three daughters, Faun, or frozen snow, Driva,
melted snow, and Miol, white snow. 28 My friend, how can I hesitate for a single
moment!”
9 Hadamard, “Massacre of Chinese on Rossel Island” (TdM 1861.2 89)
Such unexpected erudition scared me. It is difficult to imagine the lengths
a musician can go to when giving birth to a score; it should even be noted that
the composer’s historical knowledge far exceeds the librettist’s. I began to regret
inviting him. A travelling companion who was more enthusiastic than me
hardly suited my purpose; hearing him, you might think he was in the lead,
and I was following him.
23 Normally Freyja, goddess of love, beauty, fertility, war and death.
Aegyr, god of unquiet seas.
Normally spelled Kare, or Njörd, god of the winds, father of Freyja and like her
prominently mentioned by Snorri Sturluson (see below).
Often spelled Loge or Logi, a fire giant described by Sturluson.
The god of single combat, victory and heroic glory, portrayed as one-handed.
Bragi, god of poetry, presented by Sturluson.
24 Although “Feuris” is attested in the contemporary literature, the correct form
is Fenris: son of Locke, enchained by the gods, destined one day to swallow up the
sun. 25 Three Fates, or the Moirae, sisters in Roman mythology, Clotho, Lachesis and
Atropos, goddesses of human destiny from the cradle to the grave.
26 Respectively: “what has happened”; slip for Verdandi, “what is happening”;
and Skuld, “what will happen”.
27 The Prose Edda, a narrative of Norse mythology, by Snorri Sturluson (1179–
1241), Icelandic historian, poet and politician, author also of the Heimskringla, a history
of the Norwegian kings, and probable model for Arne Saknussemm in Journey
to the Centre of the Earth.
28 Verne’s source is L’Univers pittoresque (which he cites above), of which Suède
et Norwége [sic] (1838), by Philippe Le Bas, forms a volume: “Snaer had . . . three
daughters: Faun ([representing] frozen snow), Driva (melted snow) and Miol
(white . . . snow)” (506).
15

Finally I gave in, for friends, in this nineteenth century, are few and far
between; I interrupted Aristide’s flood of erudition, before it drowned us, and
the deal was done.
“When do we leave?” he asked.
“July; it’s May, so we’ve got time to get ready.”
“It’s agreed then.”
“Agreed.”
“Fine,” added my musician, “I’m going to read everything about the countries
of Scandinavia.” It was getting frightening; but a bright idea struck me as
I was taking leave of the eager composer.
10 Lancelot, “Interior of the inn at Bolkesjö” (TdM 1860.2 73)
“Twosome travelling,” I thought, “is decidedly fine and dandy, but at
moments of crisis you need a majority. Three good companions are better able
to cope! These unknown lands may contain hidden dangers, and there’s safety
in numbers. This devil of a musician’s bound to take me to mythological spots
I couldn’t give a fig about; he’s a Breton, in other words a mule, who’ll only go
where he wants to. Three’s best. 29 This figure’s been considered special since
time immemorial: the Pythagoreans and Platonists included it amongst the
perfect numbers, 30 the Greeks had three great gods, the Three Graces, the
Three Fates, the three Furies, triple Hecate; the Indians, Trimurti; the Romans,
the three Horatii. 31 Christians have the Trinity; 32 father, mother and
29 The first of many trios in Verne’s works.
30 A perfect number is a positive integer that is the sum of its proper factors, the
first being in fact 6 (1 + 2 + 3).
31 The Three Graces were the goddesses of life, love, beauty and fecundity.
Verne repeats the name (“les trois Parques”) from his previous list.
Three Greek deities of vengeance: Tisiphone, responsible for punishing murder,
Alecto, for moral crimes, and Megaera, for marital infidelity.
Hecate, goddess of magic and crossroads, often depicted with three heads.
“Three forms”, meaning Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva.
According to Livy, the Horatii were male triplets from Rome, who fought a symbolic
battle with the Curiatii triplets (7th c. BC): possibly an allusion to Jacques-
16

child form a triangular family; there are Three Kings in the sky, 33 three priests
at high mass, three kingdoms in nature, 34 three judges at the high court, three
kingdoms in the Scandinavian states, 35 and three grunts in Britain to pass liberal
motions! The number three pleases the gods! Three’s best! And may
heaven keep us!”
11 Lancelot, following Riant, “A chalet in Bamble” (TdM 1860.2 77)
These magnificent reasons, these irrefutable arguments, I will admit to my
shame, concealed the fear of being overwhelmed by my musician; so I decided,
since my better half worried me, to look for a third.
It was not easy. One after the other I tried a good number of my friends. I
was rebuffed everywhere I went.
“Travel to Sweden,” I was told, “visit Norway? March through Denmark?
Do such countries really exist? Weren’t they invented just for the balance of
power? Aren’t they as imaginary as the lines of latitude and longitude? They
are unreal, where nobody goes, where madmen that venture out don’t come
back! What do you plan to do there?”
“Visit them.”
“People don’t visit them!” came the reply. “Have you ever met a Swede or
a Norwegian?”
“Never.”
“So?”
“But what about Christina, Monaldeschi, Gustave’s ballet, Linné, Bernadotte?”
36
Louis David‘s painting, Le Serment des Horaces (1785), based on triple structures
and meanings.
32 Father, Son and Holy Ghost form one Godhead.
33 The Three Kings, or Magi, bearing gifts of gold, myrrh and frankincense for Jesus’s
birth; here a reference to three stars in Orion’s Belt, Alnitak, Mintaka et Alnilam.
34 Animals, plants and minerals.
35 Like the United Kingdom, Denmark, Sweden and Norway formed separate nations
under a single monarch.
36 Christina of Sweden (1626–89), Queen of Sweden (1632–54).
Gian Rinaldo Monaldeschi (“Monalderchi” in Géo), reputed to be Christina’s lover
in her retirement in Rome, but assassinated on her orders for disloyalty (1657).
Royal Swedish Ballet, founded by Gustave III (1746–92, r. 1771–92).
17

“Have you seen them?”
“No, but I’ve heard of them.”
“And you’re still not satisfied! Come on, be reasonable and tell us the
truth! What do you hope to see in Norway?”
12 Doré, “The Valley of Bolkesjö” (TdM 1860.2 68) 37
“Falls.” 38
“Falls! But people have them every day in Paris; it’s not worth going all
that way!”
“I concede that. . .”
“And do you know the local language?”
“No.”
“Have you plenty of money?”
“No!”
“But you want to go abroad! You’re crazy!”
Crazy or not, I stuck to my idea; such logic, entirely rigorous and completely
misplaced, did not affect me, although eminently practical people
would have greeted it with a shrug of the shoulders: like Diogenes, I was looking
for my man. 39
Luckier, and better dressed, than the philosopher of Sniope, 40 I found
him in the end. He was a barrister whose many clients allowed him an indeterminate
amount of leisure; he was called Émile L . . ., 41 and benefitted from
Carl von Linné (1707–78), Swedish naturalist.
Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte (1763–1844), marshal of France, then King of Sweden
and Norway (1818–44).
37 Doré’s sketches are attributed “Dessin de Doré d’après M. [Paul] Riant” in the
caption, but “Doré” in the table of illustrations.
38 The ultimate destination of the trip is the spectacular valley of the River Maan
and the famous 900-foot Rjukan Falls, five times as high as Niagara.
39 Greek philosopher (413?–327? BC), called the Cynic. He carried a lamp in the
daytime, to symbolise the difficulties of finding an honest man. Verne may be alluding
to the depiction of the philosopher lighting his lamp in Diogenes (Diogène dans
son amphore) (1860), by Jean-Léon Gérôme, an artist whom he admires at length in
Salon of 1857.
40 In fact Sinop(e), a Turkish city on the Black Sea. Diogenes was famous for
making a virtue of extreme poverty, living virtually naked in a barrel.
41 Émile Lorois: see Appendix C.
18

long legs, from which he could have given the composer a few centimetres,
with no loss to himself; apart from three or four fatal illnesses he imagined he
had, he was in strapping good health, and was not the sort of man to give up
halfway.
I submitted my idea; he smiled, took three one-and-a-quarter-metre
strides, and said:
13 Doré, “The Valley of Vestfjordal” (TdM 1860.2 72)
“A stroke of genius, my good man! Visit the Scandinavian states! Study the
Constitution of 1809, 42 the provisions of the Diet of the Swedes, the first
country to gain a representative government! Read the statutes of Sten Sture
the Elder, 43 who admitted the peasantry to the National Assembly! Listen to
the speeches of Anders Danielson, 44 the best speaker in Westrogothia! 45 Leaf
through the compilation of laws of 1822! Study the operation of the koemnestroett,
the court of first instance, the radhustroett, the Court of Appeal, the
hofroett, the higher court, and finally the hogstadomstol, 46 the Supreme
Court, presided over by the minister! Flick through those special laws of which
the most noteworthy grants the women of the canton of Woerend the right to
share inheritances with men, in memory of the victories they won over the
Danish! 47 Go through the works of Professors Afzelius, Walhenberg,
42 Following the loss of Finland to Russia and the abdication of Gustav IV Adolf
(1809), Sweden adopted the Instrument of Government, reducing the powers of the
king, together with a Freedom of Press Act and an Act of Succession.
43 Sten Sture the Elder (1440–1503), regent of Sweden (1470–97 and 1501–3). Le
Bas: “Sweden was the first country in Europe to have a representative government . . .
a diet . . . Under Sten Sture the Elder . . . the peasants formally took part in national
representation” (412); on the same page he presents the Constitution of 1809.
44 The transcription in Géo reads “Ander Dianelson”. Danielson was “deputy in
the government of Westrogothia . . . the most remarkable orator” amongst the peasantry
(Le Bas 413).
45 Or Västergötland, province of SW Sweden.
46 Normally written “högsta Domstol”.
47 In fact, all women in Sweden could share inheritances, but only those of Woerend
had equal rights with men: “the daughters of priests and the women of a canton
called Woerend, in Smoland, near Vexiö. A special law conferred on the latter a right
of succession equal to that of male inheritors, in memory of the courage they showed
19

Svanberg, Gefer, Fries, Nillson! 48 Set foot in the universities of Lund and
Uppsala! 49 It’s the dream of my life and the fulfilment of my every desire!”
14 Gérôme, Diogenes (1860)
I had thought floods abolished since the invention of the rainbow — I was
wrong. But finally the deluge stopped, after 40 minutes, if not 40 days.
“When do we leave?” said Émile, stepping forward.
“The first of July; it’s May, so we’ve the time to get ready.”
“It’s agreed then.”
“Agreed.”
“Fine, I’m going to master Norwegian legislation,” added my barrister on
the way out.
“Decidedly,” I said to myself, “he’s taken the lead!”
The barrister knew the musician. Things were moving along under their
own steam.
I gave up searching for a fourth companion; a doctor would have talked of
nothing but elephantiasis and leprosy in the fish-eating peoples; a soldier, of
in the old wars against the Danish” (Revue étrangère et française de législation, de
jurisprudence et d’économie politique: Par une réunion de jurisconsultes et de publicistes,
Volume 2, 1835, 332–3)). Vexiö (modern Växjö) is in modern Småland, SE
Sweden; Woerend is not attested.
48 Adam Afzelius (1750–1837), Swedish botanist.
Göran Wahlenberg (1780–1851), Swedish botanist.
Perhaps Adolph Ferdinand Svanberg (1806–57), Swedish physicist, or Lars
Fredrik Svanberg (1805–78), chemist and mineralogist.
Probably Erik Gustaf Geijer (1783-1847), author of Histoire de Suède (1845).
E. Fries (“Frier” in Géo), Swedish botanist.
In fact Sven Nilsson (1787–1883), Swedish zoologist and archaeologist, professor
of natural history at Lund University.
Verne’s list is copied from Le Bas: “Amongst the present lecturers who are most
famous abroad are Afzelius, Wahlenberg, Svanberg, Gejer [sic], Fries and Nilsson”
(429).
49 Lund and Uppsala, founded respectively in 1666 and 1477.
20

arracks and manoeuvres; a farmer, of drainage and crop rotation. Now I did
not wish to see that sort of thing whilst travelling, merely requiring nature to
unfurl her most natural marvels, not worrying much about the style of a building,
provided it went well with the countryside, nor the stratification of a
mountain, after reaching its highest peaks.
15 Doré, “The Rjukandfoss” (TdM 1860.2 76)
21

In sum my companions were two fine fellows; in any case, I know nothing
more accommodating than a barrister, when not dressed in the clothing of the
fairer sex; 50 as for musicians, they give the lie to Hesiod, who considers them,
together with potters and blacksmiths, the most envious people on earth; 51 let
it be clearly understood that I cannot speak for potters and blacksmiths.
16 Doré, “View of Lake Bandak” (TdM 1860.2 80)
Our trinity often met in the two months before our departure: the hours
were spent poring over maps and deciding on the route. Émile knew English
fairly well; Hachette had not yet published a Joanne guide to the country, so
he plunged into the Murray, 52 to my great despair, for with those cursed
books, nothing is left to chance. 53
I bought the best maps of Sweden; with compass in hand, we measured
distances, crossed torrents and with nimble dividers strode over mountains.
“Hey,” we said to each other, “to think we’re going to do it all for real!”
Our faces shone with happiness mixed with pride; Émile’s long legs
swung, ready to demolish space; I could hardly keep up. Aristide already felt a
bit tired.
50 An allusion to lawyers’ gowns, but also perhaps a homosexual hint, especially
in combination with the innuendo above, like “I was looking for my man”, “I knew
what can be made of a friend by handling him adroitly”, “I needed to seek out my better
half, having decided to submit him to every whim of the first half”, and “he’ll always
walk behind me”.
51 Hesiod, Greek poet of the 7th c. BC, author of books about the gods and myths,
especially Works and Days. Verne had already written in 1857: “nothing is more envious
than potters, blacksmiths and musicians” (“Portraits d’artistes: XVIII”, Revue
des beaux-arts, vol. 8, issue no. 6, 1857, 115–6)).
52 Handbook for Northern Europe (c. 1844, reissued as A Hand-Book for Travellers
in Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Iceland, 3rd edn 1858). Murray Handbooks
(1836–1901) were published by descendants of Scot John Murray (1745–93), with
some of Baedeker’s early volumes being simply translations of them.
53 Verne is already lamenting the end of the age of exploration. His first novels
for Hetzel will penetrate virgin areas, but thereby deflower them all the more quickly.
22

“Personally,” the barrister kept saying, “I am not one of those who take a
train across a country and think they know it! I’m determined to see everything.”
“But what about me!” I would reply. We even came close to quarrelling on
this point.
Finally, after many discussions caused by the irritability of our nerves, it
was decided the journey would begin with Sweden. We would head for Lubeck
via Cologne-Hanover-Hamburg, and from there set sail for Stockholm; this
held out the promise of a fine bit of seafaring; while crossing the top of Germany,
we would try to see as much of it as possible. 54
17 Doré, “Lake Flatdal” (TdM 1860.2 81)
The month of June was very long, in spite of its 30 days, and very lazy, despite
its 15 hours of sun; I no longer lived. My imagination soared off into the
blue yonder. I was unable to keep still. I trained like a jockey; extended trots
across the plains of Saint-Denis accustomed me to lengthy outings; I climbed
the Butte Montmartre, very proud to play the part of mountain; my lungs got
used to rebreathers; 55 from these modest bases my eyes ranged over the great
Capital, which I called the Parisian Ocean; down again, I turned my nose up at
the unambitious pedestrians who followed mere streets when highways existed,
who traversed small squares when there were plains, who strolled over the
Seine instead of crossing seas, and I said to myself pityingly: such people
aren’t going to Norway!
54 The Scandinavian diary contains several pages of notes on Cologne, Hanover,
Harburg, Hamburg and Lubeck (see Appendix F).
55 Neologism (“ressoufflement”), possibly derived from medical usage.
23

18 Doré, “Gudvangen Fjord” (TdM 1860.2 84)
Mr G. Belèze having published a Dictionary of Practical Life, 56 I resolved
to extract the information needed for travel. First of all, he recommended
equipping oneself with a passport: we were above board in that respect vis-àvis
the foreign chancelleries. 57 He suggested taking steamers rather than sail-
56 Guillaume-Louis-Gustave Belèze, author of the Dictionnaire de la vie pratique
à la ville et à la campagne (c. 1854).
57 Verne had acquired a passport in 1859 (Journey to England and Scotland ii).
24

ing-ships: this was indeed our intention. He further strongly advised taking
provisions of rum and tobacco, “two items,” he said, “which, when appropriately
employed, guarantee the assistance and respect of sailors, with whom it
is always important to maintain excellent relations”. I noted this striking observation
with great care. 58 He attached great importance to the quality of
shoes and rubber raincoats; he concluded by suggesting a firearm be acquired,
if not to defend oneself, at least to call for help. “For,” he said, “there are unfortunately
only too many cases of tourists who have fallen with a fracture,
and died miserably at a small distance from a place from which help would
have come if they had been in a position to call for it by employing the detonation
of a firearm”.
19 Doré, “Bakke Church” (TdM 1860.2 85)
Mr Belèze’s sentence was rather long but did come from the heart; it made
me quiver with pleasure, and I noted the following: be careful to fall only within
range of help!
58 This homophile recommendation will be adopted enthusiastically in Around
the World: “[Passepartout] was friendly with the sailors in many different ways and
astonished them with his acrobatic turns. He showered them with kind names and
nice drinks” (xxxiiii).
25

20 Doré, “Road to Stalheim” (TdM 1860.2 88)
Furnished with this precious information, my two companions and I made
our purchases; we each located an excellent raincoat, for the sum of 25 francs,
at the factory of Deel and Mayor. Our equipment was completed by a trunk
made from wild boar covered with canvas, a solid stick, a travel bag with a polished
leather shoulder strap, and a revolver, of which I was the proud owner.
Each had in addition a wicker-covered bottle of brandy, kirsch or rum. The
barrister bought a donkey’s knee for getting water from streams, which had
the advantage of polluting the cleanest water. I owned a notebook of British
origin, “Henry Penny’s patent”, 59 Aristide, an album for collecting the simple
59 The leather-bound notebook has survived, kept in the Municipal Library of
Amiens: it has a brass clasp and pencil holder, is labelled “Henry Penny’s Patent Improved
Metallic Books”, and contains the diary, with talented sketches of castles,
boats, and curious windowless dwellings. Brief extracts are quoted by Jean-Paul Dekiss,
“Sur les traces de Jules Verne”, Revue Jules Verne 25, 101–2, and Volker Dehs,
“Impressions d’Hambourg”, Bulletin de la société Jules Verne 149, 56.
26

melodies of these primitive peoples, and Émile, a book of accounts. He was in
charge of the money.
21 Doré, “Vöringfoss” (TdM 1860.2 89)
By forcing a little, the three of us had scraped together 3,500 francs: with
that you could go to the ends of the earth.
Two thousand francs was converted to foreign currencies; the rest was allocated
to obtaining a money draft for a Stockholm bank. 60
One of my friends, for whom 30 years of business had produced magnificent
contacts, took me to see Baron Rotschild. 61
60 In Stockholm Verne realised he had lost his money draft and spent days visiting
every bank to cancel it. Only in the last one, as he finished explaining his plight
yet again, did the draft drop out of his guidebook, perhaps the Murray mentioned
above (Jean-Michel Margot (ed.), Jules Verne en son temps, 44–5).
61 Probably Baron Jacob, or James, Mayer (de) Rothschild (1792–1868), French
banker of German origin who founded the offshoot, de Rothschild Frères (1812), of
the British firm NM Rothschild & Sons (1811). Cf.: “Accordingly, [Fogg’s] admission
[to the Reform Club] was debated for a long time but finally he got in on the recom-
27

I had not made the acquaintance of this big businessman; I entered his offices
with pride; I was, after all, a client; he was giving me a banker’s order, it
is true; but I was paying him interest and commission; he was therefore indebted
to me. I held my head up high; a man depositing a sum of 1,500 francs
is entitled to some consideration.
22 Dr Boeck
Heinrich Heine told the story that when the Baron’s chamberpot happened
to pass through his antechamber one day, the crowd of supplicants
doffed their hat in respect. 62 I swore to myself that should the object in question
make its entrance, I would decline to take off my headpiece, not through
pride but dignity. Fortunately I was not put to the test.
To conclude, I did receive a bankers draft on of Stockholm, 63
but I was paid no attention; my face went down the drain and I departed,
looking down my nose at the Baron, seated before the multicoloured bell cords
adorning his desk.
For their part, my two companions had procured letters of introduction
for the French consuls in Sweden and a doctor in Christiania. 64 But that
seemed pointless to me.
The month of June finally passed: but the departure was postponed to 2
July! One more day of delay. Long before, we had said emotional farewells to
our sobbing families. According to the terms of a verbal concord, it was decided
that if one of us succumbed while travelling, his body would not be repatriated.
There was in Paris a central agency for the North; it sold through tickets
from Paris to Stockholm via Lubeck; we had to arrive in this latter city on the
mendation of his bankers, NM de Rotschild [sic] and Sons” (the first page of the first
manuscript of Around the World).
62 German writer (1797–1856). The anecdote is apparently drawn from Heine’s
Lutetia (Lutèce, new edition 1861, 183): “a liveried servant crossed the corridor at
that moment carrying the Baron’s night-vase, and I saw a stock-exchange dabbler . . .
respectfully doff his hat before the powerful pot”.
63 Verne leaves the name of the establishment blank.
64 Dr Carl Wilhelm Boeck (1808–75), specialist in skin diseases (information
kindly provided by Per Johan Moe); in 1861 he published three articles in French on
syphilis.
28

evening of Friday, 5 July in order to embark; so there was no time to be wasted
if we wished to spend 24 hours in Hamburg. 65
23 Doré, “Heimdal Valley” (TdM 1860.2 92)
Seats cost 210 francs from Paris to Stockholm by first-class compartment
and goods-and-passenger trains; all three of us went to the agency; there my
eyes could not tear themselves from the board displaying the Svea, 66 which
ensures the crossing of the Baltic.
After paying, we received a red booklet whose leaves would come out one
by one as we travelled, 67 plus an admission ticket enabling us to go on board
the Svea.
Finally the Tuesday arrived. For the previous week, I had not gone out
once without my rubber raincoat and my game-bag.
My readers should not shrug their shoulders. May heaven have given
them a taste for travel, combined with a touch of that nervous imagination
and that philosophy which makes everything on the great routes appear
through rose-coloured spectacles. If they have the sacred fire, let us hope that
they read and rely on me for the price of things and the means of transport —
and then leave for Sweden, Norway and Denmark! These countries are not for
everybody, they’re far from a doddle! But never mind — it’s a real journey!
Plains, mountains, forests, brooks, streams, rivers, lakes, seas, travel on
horseback and on foot, by post-chase, cart and sledge, steep climbs and perilous
descents, you will encounter everything that destroys the legs but satisfies
the heart, and if you bring back just half the joy which I still have, you will be
rich with impressions and happy with memories to the end of your days!
At half past four, we were at the station of the Northern Railway, 68 my
heart beating 90 times a second! 69 Had I forgotten anything? Every few se-
65 3–4 July.
66 Verne will take this steamship from Lubeck to Stockholm via Ystad (5–7 July).
67 “Un petit cahier rouge dont les feuilles devaient tomber peu à peu sur la route":
presumably a collection of coupons detached at the successive stages of travel.
68 Built in 1846, the future Gare du Nord.
69 Is this a deliberate exaggeration? In Twenty Thousand Leagues, revolutions
per second are similarly substituted for per minute.
29

conds, I felt my bulging pockets; I interrogated my bag whose lock cracked
under my fingers. The trunks were finally weighed, numbered, loaded; I entered
the waiting room first, like a conqueror; the bell rang out, the doors
opened: in the blink of an eye, we were settled in a compartment, Émile and
Aristide seated behind, myself ahead. 70
24 Charles Rivière, “Northern Railway Station”
At ten minutes past five, the steam whistled loudly, the locomotive whinnied,
the train pulled off, and, to the great surprise of our travelling companions,
the three of us, leaning out of the right-hand windows, cried in formidable
unison: “Farewell, France, farewell!”
70 Since compartments usually had facing rows of seats, Verne may be saying that
he is travelling with his back to the engine.
30

Appendices
A. Chronology of 1861
Spring of this year?: travel to Provins, with the taking of two photographs
of the extended family
25 The extended Verne family in about 1861
27 May: death of grandmother Masthie Verne (b. 1768)
1 June: first night of three-act comedy Onze jours de siege, co-authored
with Charles Wallut (until the 26th)
2 July: departure from Paris, crossing southern Belgium
3: Cologne, Hanover and Harburg
3–4: Zum Cronprinzen hotel, Hamburg
4–5: Lubeck, hôtel de l'Europe 71
6: Ystad (Sweden)
7–14: Rydberg hotel, Stockholm
15: Motala
16: Lake Vänern
17–18: Gothenburg
18: Stavern (Norway), Larvik, Vestfold Archipelago
19–22: Hôtel du Nord, Christiania (Oslo)
23–4: Sandvika
25–6: Mrs Hansen’s inn, Kongsberg
26–7: Tin(n)oset
27–30: Dal(e)
28: Rjukan Falls
29: Mount Gausta
31: Haug Sund (Hokksund)
31–1 Aug.: Hôtel Scandinavie, Drammen
1: Tin(n)oset, Bamble in Hitterdal (Heddal), Kongsberg
1–3 Aug.: Christiania
4: birth of Michel; Verne in Helsingborg (Sweden), Elsinore (Denmark)
71 Many of the place names and dates benefit greatly from Per Johan Moe.
31

4–6: Hotel Phoenix, Copenhagen
About 5: probable receipt of Honorine’s letter, sent on about the 2nd, calling
him back
6: declaration of birth of Verne’s son; Korsør
7: Kiel (Denmark), Hamburg
8: Cologne, Liège, Namur, Jeumont, arrival in Paris (originally scheduled
for the 15th)
About 24: publication of Onze jours de siege
Autumn?: to escape Michel’s cries, Verne perhaps joins the Circle of the
Scientific Press
5 Nov.: Verne attends the wedding in Brittany of Marie Verne and Léon
Guillon
B. Aristide Hignard
Verne and Aristide Hignard (1822–98) were very close, making both Nordic
trips together and collaborating on many works. 72
The two had reportedly been friends since their boarding schools, that is
at least as far back as 1839. Hignard, son of the chief medical officer at the Hôtel
Dieu Hospital, lived, like the Vernes, in Rue Jean-Jacques Rousseau. Later
a composer, he was rumoured by one (unreferenced) biographer to be homosexual.
Joyous Miseries presents him as “gentle, witty, slightly nonchalant,
slightly slow, with legs too short to be a great walker, highly artistic”.
26 Aristide Hignard, Verne’s travelling companion and collaborator
According to Allotte de la Fuÿe, in 1846 or 1847 Verne confessed the bitterness
of his unrequited passion for cousin Caroline to Hignard, already
studying at the Paris Conservatory, whereupon his friend called him to the
capital to forget his misery. From 1848 onwards Verne’s correspondence with
his parents mentions Hignard the most often: through him he joined a musical
set in the Rue Louis-le-Grand salon of pianist and composer Adrien
Talexy.
In April 1851, Verne moved into accommodation across the corridor from
Hignard’s, on the seventh floor of 18 Boulevard Bonne Nouvelle. Verne and a
whole circle of friends would crowd into Hignard’s rooms to create operas and
play high-stake baccarat.
72 References for Appendices B and C may be found in the corresponding pages
of Butcher, Jules Verne (2006).
32

While composing together one evening, Jules forgot to lock his door, and
when he returned, his gold watch had disappeared. The two young men went
to the police, who licked their pencils and enquired whether it was an “escapement
watch”. “Not half!” Verne is meant to have exclaimed, departing
with roars of laughter.
Hignard was best man at Verne’s wedding (1857), indeed his only friend
present, providing music to accompany the long poem that Jules declaimed
for Honorine. That same year, Verne published seven poems in Hignard’s collection
of Rimes et mélodies. In 1863, he contributed to a second collection of
songs, including “Memories of Scotland” and “The Tankadère”.
Hignard introduced Verne to professional librettist Michel Carré. The
three collaborated on operetta Mr Chimpanzee (1857), which opened at the
Bouffes Parisiens in 1858, directed and staged by Offenbach, although positive
reviews were few and far between. In 1860 the same trio put on the one-act
opera Inn of the Ardennes at the Lyric Theatre, and it was published the same
year.
In July 1859, Jules, Honorine, Hignard and Lorois spent a long country
weekend in Château Thierry. Hignard mentioned an offer by his brother of a
free trip to Britain on a cargo vessel, at which Jules leaped without hesitation,
resulting in the ground-breaking 1859 trip to Edinburgh and the Highlands.
27 Invitation to a Dinner of the Eleven without Women (“Tuesday 6 July [1852 or
1858] — 6.30 at Brébant’s”), with 15 sketches, including Verne (centre right) and
Hignard (beside him)
33

C. Émile Lorois
Verne’s relationship with Émile Lorois (1831–99) extends over more than
30 years. They had been friends since at least 1846, when attending the
Collège royal in Nantes. The son of the Prefect of Morbihan, in 1861 a lawyer,
Lorois would later be a government engineer and right-wing deputy for Morbihan.
In the 1850s, Lorois, Hignard and Verne were members of an exclusively
male dining club called The Eleven without Women. A letter probably
dating from March 1855 implies Lorois is amongst Verne’s closest friends. Hignard
and Lorois were also both reportedly “Colonnaders”, members of a circle
that met beside the pillars of the Paris stock exchange, where the writer
was employed as an assistant stockbroker. Verne’s summary of his navigations
on the St Michel III, finally, mentions a visit in August 1879 to the
“Lorois’ in Brest”.
D. Artists presented by Verne
Although Gustave Doré (1832–83), celebrated illustrator of Balzac, the bible,
Gautier and Hugo, never illustrated a Verne work, his drawing, “Une
Tankadère (batelière chinoise)” (TdM 1860.1 133), in “Voyage en Chine et au
Japon”, by marquis Alfred de Moges (129–75), is the evident source not only
of Verne’s poem “La Tankadère” (1862), but also of the ship of the same name
in Around the World in Eighty Days. Some of his other sketches in the same
article, for instance the one of a Chinese wheelbarrow-vehicle, have a clear
link with Verne.
In this study are reproduced the following illustrations by Doré, based on
sketches by Riant and illustrating Riant’s article, of great importance for
Verne’s inspiration and partly overlapping with his voyage: “La Vallée de
Bolkesjö” (68), “La Vallée de Vestfjordal” (72), “Le Rjukandfoss” (76), “Vue du
lac Bandak” (80), “Le lac Flatdal” (81), “Fjord de Gudvangen” (84), “Église de
Bakke” (85), “Route de Stalheim” (88), “Le Vöringfoss” (89) and “Vallée de
l’Heimdal” (92). (Titles of illustrations are given in French in the text for reference
purposes.)
Jean-Baptiste Henri Durand-Brager (1814–79) painted exotic and military
subjects, with eighteen drawings in TdM (1862.2 209–40, on Siberia). He displayed
21 works at the 1857 Salon: Verne reports that “Durand-Brager has
brought back no less than 25 or 30 paintings from the Expedition to the East
[the Crimean War]” (Salon de 1857, “Article Préliminaire”), devoting over 400
words to them (“Cinquième Article”). Verne calls Panorama of Kamiesch, for
example: “a very interesting painting of this small town improvised so as to
serve the war and which had to die following the peace treaty of the Congress
of Paris”. Similarly, he presents The “Roland” (1857) as follows: “an interesting
painting, no longer a panorama; the steam corvette, the Roland, is seen
entering the bay under a hail of projectiles. We are at present located in the
rocket battery at Strelitzka, on the plateau behind the Genoese Fort, and the
artist shows us the curious arrangement of these war machines”.
Édouard Riou (1838–1900), later one of Verne’s finest illustrators, published
hundreds of engravings in TdM, starting with about 60 on Brazil
(1861.1 1–48 and 353–400).
Auguste Hadamard (Verne : “Hadamar”) (1823–86) produced illustrations
for TdM, notably “Vue du marché de Sokoto [Nigeria]” (1860.2 225),
“Représentation théâtrale dans le royaume d’Ava [Birmanie]” (265), a few of
34

the Middle East (eg 1861.1 75–80), and, of great interest to Verne, “Un des
matelots meurt dans la chaloupe du Saint-Paul” (TdM 1861.2 88) and “Massacre
des Chinois dans l’île Rossel” (89): illustrations for an account of cannibalism,
“Naufrage et scènes d’anthropophagie à l’île Rossel, dans l’archipel de
la Louisiade (Mélanésie)”, by Victor de Rochas (TdM 1861.2 81–93).
Karl Girardet produced sketches of Suez (TdM 1860.2 97–104), as well as
“Église de Lomb” (TdM 1861.1 168) and “Val de Romsdal” (181), illustrating
Saint-Blaise. In the draft manuscript of Around the World, Verne cites three
pages from this volume of TdM as sources, perhaps including his “Port de Suez”
(1860.2 100).
Eugène Flandin illustrated Baghdad and the Middle East; his article “Voyage
en Mésopotamie” (TdM 1861.1 49–80) was illustrated by Hadamard and
Flandin himself.
As well as sketches of the United States (TdM 1860.1), Lancelot illustrated
Riant with “Intérieur d’auberge à Bolkesjö” (TdM 1860.2 73) and “Un Châlet à
Bamble” (1860.2 77), the latter perhaps influencing Verne’s own illustration of
a rustic dwelling (reproduced above).
E. The manuscript
The twelve known pages of the manuscript are written recto-verso in black
ink. In carefully-formed script and with a broad alternating margin 73 and underlining
of titles, it is right-justified by means of end-of-line hyphenation.
The rare corrections are made between the lines, each letter being deleted
with one or two strokes sloping slightly to the left. There is very little in the
margins except for the numbering, running from “1” to “12”, in an unformed
hand and apparently in pencil. Given that at this time Verne did not number
the first page of his prose manuscripts, might this be an editor’s addition?
73 The text is on the left-hand part of page 1, the right-hand part of page 2, and so
on. The interest of this observation comes from a comparison with the manuscripts of
Verne’s novels in 1862–80. For some reason, only Paris in the Twentieth Century,
volume 2 of The Adventures of Captain Hatteras, Journey to the Centre of the Earth
and the second manuscript of Uncle Robinson employ a similarly alternating margin.
(Dehs (“Les Tribulations de Dufrénoy”, BSJV 171, 34–44) states that “le texte [de Paris]
occupe la partie gauche de chaque page, tout comme les manuscrits à partir du 2 e
volume d’Hatteras”, but this observation is mistaken as regards not only Paris, but
also Hatteras and Robinson.)
35

28 The manuscript (1)
The writer did not normally proceed to a final draft before finishing the
whole volume. It is possible, therefore, that this single chapter formed part of
a completed work, now lost. 74 Although the unsigned manuscript has been
kept in Amiens Public Library since 2001, and Gondolo della Riva’s article of
1997 first indicated its existence, no information is available about it before
then, or indeed since, apart from that researcher’s report that it was previously
owned by a “foreign [ie non-French] collector”.
74 The ruled line on the last page, followed by a page break, might possibly mark
the end of the document, especially in the light of the manuscripts of Paris (1863)
and Journey to the Centre of the Earth (1864), which have a line at the end of each
chapter but no page break. However, From the Earth to the Moon (1864) has both
lines and page breaks.
36

29 The end of the manuscript (12)
According to Verne’s will, his manuscripts were left to Michel. However,
when, implausibly, the son claimed to have discovered them a full six weeks
after his father’s death, he seemed principally interested in the late, unpublished
novels. Only in the draft of a letter written to newspapers is there a
mention of “uncompleted works”, 75 conceivably including Joyous Miseries.
30 Vicaire (à dr. debout), Heller (à g. debout) et Fuchs (centre debout),
vers 1860
F. The Scandinavian diary
Given the interest of this unpublished diary, extracts are quoted here, in
the original French, accompanied by explanatory notes:
[1 r o76 ] Eugène Vicaire, Octave Heller, Edmond Fuchs 77 … 13, 14 juillet / 1861
/ 17, 18, 19, juillet [1861] 78 / [Vandenberke] / G [Laureau] / L Montigny [ces
trois derniers réunis par une accolade avec les mots « de Paris »]
75 Cited by Gondolo della Riva, “Du nouveau”, 126.
76 Cette transcription de quelques fragments du carnet de 1861-1866, effectuée à
partir de la copie informatique consultable dans une borne à la Bibliothèque municipale
d’Amiens, est sujette à caution, n’ayant pu être vérifiée.
37

[calculs (financiers ?)]. . . à Hign.
[1 v o ] Ceux-là ne vont pas en Norvège / malade si je resite [sic]. Il faut
partir,. . . le mardi soir, 2 juillet arrive — départ à 5 heures 10 en chemin de fer
du Nord. Passage de la frontière à Jeumont Erquelinnes . . . arrivée à Charleroi
79 — effet de la fabrique dans la nuit. . .
Arrivée le mercredi matin à 4 heures à Cologne. . . 2 heures à. . . courir à
la cathédrale — merveilleuse [plus de dix lignes]
. . . il n’y a qu’une tour qui s’élève jusqu’à la galerie — on a refait de nos
jours le portail du. . . et le portail de l’autre tour
[2 r o ] [plus de 12 lignes sur la cathédrale]
. . . cinq nefs. . . le pont tubulaire du chemin de fer — le port de bateaux —
1 mur de défense. . . avec meurtrières — / Buckebourg — village rouge. . .
Départ à 4 heures de Hanovre — pays plat et grisonnant — arrivée à Harburg
à 8 heures — l’omnibus — 1 er passage de l’Elbe 80 dans un bateau à vapeur.
L’île à traverser — 2 e passage — aspect. . . — grande ville commerciale. . .
— souper — promenade rue des. . . — l’Alster avec moulin [coucher à] [2 v o ]
Hambourg 81 — . . . vue sur / des / Vaterlandes / [Iohannjeorg (Johann
Georg ?)] / Birsh. . .
31 Copie très approximative du dessin de Verne
Hauts jardins anglais. . . canaux. . . barques à vapeur. . . — arbre [ronge]
dans la maison [5]. . .
77 Les élèves-ingénieurs, déjà polytechniciens, Eugène Vicaire (1839-1901), Octave
Heller et Edmond Fuchs (1837-1889), font partie de la promotion du corps des
mines de 1858-1861 à l'École des Mines.
78 Ces dates seraient peut-être projetées, impliquant une planification détaillée
de la route ; dans les faits, elles correspondront, sauf le 13 juillet, à des navigations.
79 Suite à la première liaison franco-belge de 1842, le premier train transite de
Paris à Liège en 1855, en passant par Jeumont et Erquelinnes, villes frontalières, puis
Charleroi.
Les villes vues lors du voyage de 1861, y compris Liège et Namur, étaient inconnues
à ce jour. Les détails de la vie domestique — blanchissage, cabriolet, prix divers
— sont également utiles pour comprendre la vie de Verne avant la renommée, comme
le sont potentiellement les comptes entre les trois amis.
80 Environ deux ans plus tard, Verne tirera une partie de la section allemande de
Voyage au centre de la terre de ce séjour. En plus de l’Elbe et de Harburg, à l’origine
de « l’Elbe, du côté du bac à vapeur qui met la ville en communication avec le chemin
de fer de Harbourg » (i), et du « moulin » de « l’Alster », qui générera le « vieux moulin
goudronné » de l’Alster (iii), les mots « arbre [ronge] dans la maison », union du
vif-mort et du naturel-construit, mèneront au « vieil orme vigoureusement encastré
dans la façade » (i).
81 Dehs, « Impressions », donne la date du « 6 juillet », mais elle serait plutôt du
3.
38

[26 r o ]. . . du [sic] à Aristide 559 / note d’hôtel 374 / — — — / note Bennett
199 82
Voyage retour 300 83
Achats 560
1960 84
32 Copie très approximative du dessin de Verne
[H.] — 800
[sens-dessus-dessous :]
Hambourg — hôtel [M e Sigre — pres /] / hermann strasse — 5 # par jour —
Lubeck. . .
— cabriolet pour aller hôtel du nord —. . . place Gustave Adolphe — 2,50
diner
[en grandes lettres, encadré :]
8 br == reçu lettre le 11 85 / /
Honorine / Mathilde / [Anna] / M e [Mme ?] Deviane [sans doute la mère
d’Honorine] / M e Mayor / M e [Charles] Maisonneuve / M e Horace / — — /
[Auguste ou Jules] Fleury /. . . / Ferdinand [de Viane, beau-frère] / [Mortimer]
d’Ocagne 86 . . .
À Lorois 200 à Hignard 200 87
Restaurant au Parc à [Hasselbucker] /
En partant le 14 à 8 h ? du soir / /
Le 18 matin
[26 v o ] — Honorine /. . . / — Mathilde /. . . / Berthe / — Marie [Verne] /
M e devianne [sic] / M e Horace / M e Mayer /. . . M e [Charles] Wallut /. . . M e
[Mme] Mauclerc. . . /— Valentine [sa fille] / Suzanne [sa fille] / M e Verne
[sans doute sa mère] / — Ferdinand / — Horace / — d’Ocagne / — Fleury. . .
2, 3 hôtel /. . . / 2 blanchissage / 5,58. . .
[27 r o ] 88 . . . soleil levant / que. . . la villa bruyère / la mer / la montagne par
derrière / la [sic] / au joyeux, vivant / Ah ! nous. . . / à notre
82 Le voyage suivra pour l’essentiel le tour organisé par Thomas Bennett (1814–
98), anciennement employé au consulat-général britannique d’Oslo et auteur de
Bennett’s Norway (1858).
83 Ce « Voyage retour 300 » représenterait le prix des transports depuis le Danemark,
mais il est loin clair qu’il s’agisse de la somme « supplémentaire[s] » à payer,
comme l’a interprété un biographe récent.
84 Sans doute non une référence à l’année de l’action de Paris, dont le premier
état date néanmoins de l’année précédente, mais simplement le total (erroné) du calcul.
85 Ce grand encadré aurait pu représenter une clef pour résoudre la controverse
du retour de Verne le 8 août, pour trouver son fils, né dans son absence le 4 août —
sans la date et sans la mention de « 8 br », abréviation courante du mois d’octobre.
86 La mention de l’amitié avec « [Mortimer] d’Ocagne », père de Maurice Ocagne,
confirme la fugue du jeune Jules en 1839.
87 Cette ligne est importante, car elle indique sans ambiguïté le nom des deux
compagnons de Verne.
39

villa bruyère 89 . . . — esplanade / — hôtel [Juan] — du port. . . Monaco, hôtel
de paris
[41 v o ] Paris à déjeuner — départ — vallée de la Meuse et de la Sambre [+]
points de vue du Rhin. . . magnifique entre Liège et Namur. . .
— arrivée à Jeumont — passer port [sic] — visiter. . .
— à 8.15 arrivée à Paris / — / — / Fin du voy. en Scandinavie 90
88 Ces entrées concernant une visite à la Côte d’azur (vers 1865-1867) — la villa
bruyère, l’hôtel Juan, l’hôtel de Paris à Monaco —, intercalées dans les feuilles scandinaves,
sont importantes pour la connaissance biographique.
89 C’est une esquisse de quelques vers sur le séjour méditerranéen, dans la compagnie
vraisemblablement de son éditeur, Jules Hetzel ; Verne lui en enverra la version
définitive le 11 février 1868.
90 C’est Verne lui-même qui intitule le document, ou du moins la péripétie,
« voyage en Scandinavie ».
40

Jules Verne
Joyous Miseries of
Three Travellers in
Scandinavia
2