Three Verne novels are here, from 1864 to 1873, and they are the three that English-language readers still know by name.
Around the World in Eighty Days is the shortest at 63,000 words, and it is the least speculative of the three: no new technology, just timetables and a bet.
Verne’s three novels here were published between 1864 and 1873, in the order he wrote them: A Journey to the Centre of the Earth (1864), Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea (1870) and Around the World in Eighty Days (1873). All three were serialised before they appeared as books, which is why every chapter ends on a cliff edge and why the exposition arrives in the middle of the action.
At 63,000 to 104,016 words they are three to six hours each, so the whole shelf is a weekend. Around the World is the shortest and the funniest, Twenty Thousand Leagues has the most invention per page, and Journey reads most like the adventure it was sold as. Read Around the World first if you want to like him immediately; read Twenty Thousand Leagues first if you want the book that made the submarine romantic.
Start here: Around the World in Eighty Days. About four hours, and it moves, because the plot is a schedule and every chapter is a deadline.
Jules Verne: which book first
Every Jules Verne title on editions.ink, with the reading time for each. The first row is the one to start with.
| Book | Year | Words | Read time |
|---|---|---|---|
| Around the World in Eighty Days — start here | 1873 | 63,000 | 4 h |
| A Journey to the Centre of the Earth | 1864 | 88,854 | 5 h |
| Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea | 1870 | 104,016 | 6 h |
| All three | 255,870 | 14 h |
What to read after the first one
- Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea — the most famous, and the one with the most description per page
- A Journey to the Centre of the Earth — the 1864 breakthrough, and the strangest of the three
If you would rather see the whole shelf in chronological order first, the Jules Verne books in order page lists every title by publication year with the same word counts. The Jules Verne author page collects all the editions in one place,, and the author index has the other writers on the site. If you want a follow-up by a different author, the read next guide pairs ten classics with what to read after them.
Questions readers ask
Which Jules Verne book should I read first?
Around the World in Eighty Days (1873, 63,000 words). It is the shortest and it depends least on nineteenth-century engineering.
Should I read Verne in order?
No. The three novels are independent; only the scientific optimism is shared.
Are these Verne editions free?
Yes, complete DRM-free downloads with word counts and reading times.