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15 vols. bound in 7. The real First edition (in French) with the first 14 volumes dated 1845, and only the last volume dated 1846 (the key and critical identifiers). Rare. RBH says no copies of this edition have sold at auction looking back 50 years, and it is not recorded, precisely, by either Reed or Munro in their Dumas bibliographies (details and analysis to follow). Contemporary 3/4 cloth, marbled boards, slight wear in a few places, vol 1-2 front hinge and rear joint split but holding, vol 9-10 hinges split but holding, vol 13-15 rear joint split but holding, but otherwise all 7 books are near fine, clean, complete, and as sound as a sea anchor, with all 15 half titles, and they have never been repaired in any way. 3 half morocco cases. Monte Cristo is an exemplar of what it means for a 19th century 1st edition to have wide appeal, a world classic of sustained imagination, and this is a once in a generation copy of it, dropped into a 21st century marketplace that has been crop dusted with the bibliographically wrong, the misdescribed, and the misunderstood. It s not quite historical romance, but it is a mystery, and every bit a thriller, for 7 generations the most popular novel across the nations (le livre des livres) and it is undeniably, the greatest tale of revenge in all of literature, an effortless read of seamless equipoise, unforgettable suspense, and breathtaking intrigue, a cathartic tale starring the implacable avenger, a superhero more mesmerizing than the woman across the street who won t close the blinds. If you can read it in French, that would be best, because for 150 years all the 19th and 20th century translations into English read like they had been edited and bowdlerized by 2 elderly puritans, one of whom had been dead for months. Every single translation redacted extensive subplots and bled much of the life found in central passages that were thought too erotic, or too stressful, for English speaking readers, with abridgements going well beyond unabashed sex to include an extended scene of torture and execution, 2 cases of infanticide, a female serial poisoner, blueprints for murders without getting caught, a gruesomely described stabbing, 3 suicides, transvestism, lesbianism, illegitimacy, drug induced sexual fantasies, and more. Also lost in abridgement was the continuous display of the author s classical learning, his vast understanding of European history, and copious lesser diversions such as the customs and diet of the Italians, and the effects of hashish. The novel ends with the line; "l humaine sagesse était tout entière dans ces deux mots: Attendre et espérer." (all human wisdom is contained in these two words: wait and hope.). So, prophetically, in 1996, Penguin Classics finally published a faithful edition in English translated by Robin Buss without redactions, but if you decide to give it a try, buy yourself a portable oxygen tank and keep it close by while you are reading. You are going to need it. You say you like movie books? In 1908 Monte Cristo was (not too surprisingly) the first movie that told a story ever made in the greater Los Angeles area (Hollywood) in the days just before the film business was centered there. Now, here s a run at the bibliography: Anybody who isn t confused doesn t understand the problem. Le Comte de Monte Cristo (misprinted Christo in its earlier editions) has been smothered in bibliographical quicksand. That means all the bibliographies are wrong, though what most readers of them fail to realize is, how wrong (one lie doesn t cancel one truth, it cancels the truth). For just one example, the first 3 entries for Monte Cristo in Munro s generally competent, and often admirable, bibliography give dates that could not be accurate, and none of the 3 have been verified as even existing exactly as Munro describes them, and his 4th entry, while accurately described, has at least one volume that was misdated by the publisher (see below). Some of the sources get some.
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