This auction is for an original 1891 1ST EDITION of "ROUND THE WORLD WITH TRAIN - A TYPHOON - Being the Confessions of a Private Secretary concerning a Tour of the World in Sixty-Seven Days" by S. W. Wall. WHAT A FASCINATING AND UNIQUE BOOK! This book shares an account of GEORGE FRANCIS TRAIN'S second trip around the world. The eccentric American millionaire, along with Mr. Wall, left Tacoma Washington on March 18, 1890 and returned on May 24, 67 days 12 hours and 3 minutes after he left.

Train was likely the inspiration for Phileas Fogg in Jules Verne 's Around the World in Eighty Days, although he managed to accomplish the feat in 67 days.

This is no ordinary book! This is not a guide book either! It simply is a story of a journey…with a touch of one button from a KODAK camera. Scenes that were taken were taken as a collection of "opportunity." These instantaneous photographs, taken in all the ports touched at, and on land and sea, linked in such close succession - were taken by one individual and forming a chain round the earth! Nearly all of these photos were taken on the run - from carriage windows, from galloping rickshaws in Japan and China, from moving sampans and steam vessels in their waters, from the jogging gharri of Singapore, and the swift Indian mail train across Europe; never hesitating as lighting nor weather was never the focus; It was a "take it or leave it" approach. This book is the result of this journey around the world.

The stages of the tour begin with:

I) THE START

II) CROSSING THE PACIFIC

III) THE RUN THROUGH JAPAN

IV) THE SUBJECTION OF CHINA

V) SINGAPORE - UNDER THE EQUATOR

VI) CEYLON- ACROSS THE INDIAN OCEAN

VII) ADEN - AT THE GATE OF TEARS

VIII) NORTH - BETWEEN ASIA AND AFRICA

IX) AN ENGAGEMENT IN EUROPE

X) A BRUSH THROUGH BRITAIN

XI) UNDER THE STATUE OF LIBERTY

XII) GOING DOWN THE STRETCH

XIII) THE FINISH

This wonderful work not only contains three hundred reproductions from the photographs, it also has in line text explaining the location and action of the photo. Amusing pen drawings by G. H. Blair are added within the subject titles and documentation of the book.

George Francis Train (March 24, 1829 – January 5, 1904) was a businessman, author, orator and an eccentric figure in American and Australian history. This fascinating man was known as a larger-than-life financial promoter. He was also a world traveler. His first trip around the globe took two years. His second in 1870 took eighty days, serving as what many believe was the inspiration for Jules Verne's Around the World in Eighty Days. He traveled around the world by car, horse, ship, carriage and train in 80 days. In 1890 he traveled around the world in sixty-seven days (to beat Nellie Bly's 1889-90 record time of seventy-two days); and in 1892 he circled the globe in just sixty days.

Published in 1891, this photo journey is in GREAT CONDITION! for its age; especially for being 118 YEARS OLD! There are 312 neat and clean pages within this volume wonderfully chronicling this photographic diary. All pages are present, firmly bound. There is no writing or markings whatsoever! No foxing! The only flaw is both hinges have been neatly reinforced with book binder tape to further preserve this piece of history for years of enjoyment to come! This book measures approximately 6 1/2" X 12". The attractive illustrated cover shows a vivid rust cloth over boards with gilt and script. The spine offers a vibrant gilt as well.  If you are interested in early travel and its history, you will be delighted with this RARE book! A major internet book site reveals this to be ONLY ONE OF THREE AVAILABLE at the present time of listing. GET IT WHILE YOU CAN!

FURTHER INTERESTING INFORMATION ABOUT GEORGE. F. TRAIN:

Throughout his life Train was engaged in the mercantile business in Boston and in Australia, then went to England in 1860 and undertook to form horse tramway companies in Birkenhead and London where he soon met opposition. Train was involved in the formation of the Union Pacific Railroad during the civil war but left for England in 1864 after having helped others set up the Credit Mobilier company. Referring to himself as "Citizen Train", he became a shipping magnate, a prolific writer, a minor presidential candidate, and a confidant of French and Australian revolutionaries. He was offered the presidency of a proposed Australian republic, but declined

Train was likely the inspiration for Phileas Fogg in Jules Verne 's Around the World in Eighty Days, although he managed to accomplish the feat in 67 days.

When Train returned to the States, his popularity and reputation soared. He began promoting the great Union Pacific Railroad which he had been involved with for several years, despite the advice of Vanderbilt, who told him it would never work. Forming a finance company called Credit Foncier of America, Train made a fortune from real estate when the great railway running from coast to coast opened up huge swathes of western America, including large amounts of land in Omaha, Council Bluffs, Iowa and Columbus, Nebraska. He was responsible for building the Cozzens Hotel and founding Train Town in pioneer Omaha. Train had political as well as economic ambitions. In 1872 he ran as an independent candidate for president against Republican Ulysses S. Grant and Democrat Horace Greeley, making numerous campaign speeches throughout the country.
He was a staunch supporter of the temperance movement, and was jailed on obscenity charges while defending Victoria Woodhull. He was the primary financier of the newspaper The Revolution, which was dedicated to women's rights, and published by Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton.

As he aged Train became more eccentric, in 1873 he was arrested and threatened with being sent to an insane asylum. He stood for the position of Dictator of the United States, charged admission fees to his campaign rallies and drew record crowds. He became a vegetarian and adopted various fads in succession. Instead of shaking hands with other people, he shook hands with himself, the manner of greeting he had seen in China. He spent his final days on park benches in New York City's Madison Square Park, handing out dimes and refusing to speak to anyone but children and animals.

He became ill with smallpox at the residence of his daughter, Susan M. Train Gulager, in Stanford, Connecticut in 1903. He died in New York and was buried at a small private ceremony at Green-Wood Cemetery. On his death The Thirteen Club, of which he was a member, passed a resolution that he was one of the few sane men in "a mad, mad world."

During his last years, George Francis Train lived almost in seclusion at the Mills Hotel in York City. In 1902 his autobiography, My Life in Many States and in Foreign Lands, was published. He died in 1904.

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