Retz

The McClure Company, New York, 1908. Hardcover, 344 pp. First Edition, published April, 1908. In acceptable condition/ NO dust jacket. Red cloth covered boards with blind stamped wreath and floral decoration on front and gold lettering on front and spine. Bumping to edges of covers and nicking and fraying to cloth over corner tips and top and bottom of spine. Moderate overall scuffing and soiling to covers as well. Binding tight. Previous owner's gift inscription on front free end paper dated 1910. Otherwise pages are aged but unmarked with occasional spotting and soiling. A good reading copy. NOT Ex-Library. NO remainder marks. Albertson Van Zo Post (1866 - 1938) was an American fencer and writer. In 1904 he was the first American ever to win an Olympic championship in fencing, an accomplishment not duplicated for over 90 years. Although he trained as a civil engineer and entered that profession, he later switched to writing, penning the novels?Retz (1908) and Diana Ardway (1913), the latter of which was adapted into the 1919 silent comedy Satan Junior. [From The Bookman, Vol 27, 1908 ] Count Retz is the hero of this story of love and adventure. He seeks the Court of Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy, where he becomes a great favorite. Having gained the Duke's permission to endeavor to rid Flanders of the Robber Barons of the low-Rhine, he organized a company of followers whom he called 'The Shadows" and, after considerable fighting and without the promised aid from the Duke, succeeds in destroying every Robber Baron castle in the country. After the accomplishment of this feat he leaves Flanders with his followers and goes to France where he is the means of replacing the French King on the throne, he himself becoming the constable of France.…