Dumas, Alexandre

Margaret of Navarre [La Reine Margot]

London: George Peirce, 1845. First Edition. First edition in English, first issue in original penny parts, preceding Bogue's 1846 edition titled Marguerite de Valois and all others. 7 vols., 8vo (196 x 128mm), pp. [4], 1-64; 65-128; 129-192; 193-256; 257-320; 321-384; 385-479, [1]. Publisher's pink wrappers, vol. I spine worn, else a bright, near fine, unrepaired set. Ex-Robert Jackson, last seen at the Grolier Club in their 1996 exhibit Essential Parts, appearing in their catalog on page 16. Item #1339

A significant rarity in any condition or binding, likely unique in wrappers. This is the only set in wrappers that has been located in the standard references, and no other complete set in original parts has appeared at auction. The penny part format was designed for serialized distribution to readers who could not afford books but could manage a weekly expenditure, making Victorian literature accessible to the working classes who were just becoming literate enough to want it. Most copies were read to destruction or later bound (destroying the wrappers), which explains why survival in original state approaches the miraculous.

The novel itself is Dumas at the apex of his powers, the first of the Valois trilogy, opening in 1572 with the marriage of Marguerite de Valois to Henri of Navarre and the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre that followed. The English translation appeared within a year of the French original, evidence of Dumas's immediate international popularity and the hunger of English readers for historical romance that delivered both spectacle and psychological complexity. Pink wrappers intact, ready to be read again or preserved as the bibliographic artifact it has become.

Price: $12,500.00