The Three Musketeers
London: Vickers, 1846. First Edition. Hardcover. 1st English edition, so loosening the corset of historical romance that every writer who followed could fondle her breasts. It is not the 1st edition in the English language because 2 U. S. translations preceded it (Baltimore, Taylor Wilde, 1846, published Dec. 5, 1845, and NY, William Taylor, published shortly thereafter), both abridged and bowdlerized, but so were all the other translation into English before Richard Pevear’s in 2006, and any claims of a full translation before 2006 are a joke. Our Vickers London edition was serialized in penny parts from Jan. 1846 to May 8. Bruce and Wyld’s London edition (The Library of Foreign Romance) ran in sixpence parts from Mar. to May 12, and the 2 book issues followed promptly in the same order, a priority with which both bibliographies (Munro and Reed) agree, and though it is a snug priority, there is no evidence against their conclusions. Despite all that, we see Bruce and Wyld’s later, much more common, and always overpriced edition incorrectly promoted as the 1st edition in English (it’s the 4th edition in English), without qualifiers or details, when the conclusions in the best references are available to all (language skills turned to deceptive cataloging are like manual skills turned to picking pockets). And if you are selling Bruce and Wyld’s edition, or any other book for that matter, and do not think you need to research it thoroughly, or describe it candidly, or will not be able to sell it if you explain it fully, or cannot buy it if you have to price it fairly, it may be time to stop trying to make wind appear solid, leave the world of the under–described and overvalued, shake your inner Etch A Sketch back to a blank screen, and start over. And if you do start over, and do so with gritty honesty, you will like what you are doing more. And you will like yourself more. Our book is bound with 4 additional novels written by others, in thick and stout, contemporary 3/4 morocco (6 1/4” X 9 1/2”), the sides rubbed, else very good, tall, and unrepaired, the text printed in minute but exquisitely clear type, and it is complete with the contents pages and all 16 illustrations. A rare book, 10 times rarer than any of the other London editions. No auction sales in ABPC going back to 1975. OCLC lists 5 copies, British Library, British Library Reference, Yale, No. Carolina, and Aberdeen, and this is just the 2nd copy we have ever seen for sale. Tous pour un, un pour tous. Very good. Item #784
The Three Musketeers is the most exhilarating of reads and the guiltiest of pleasures, a whirlpool of conspiracy, treachery, solidarity, assassination, sex, betrayal, adventure, politics, vengeance, murder, espionage, suspense, scandal, love, justice, and injustice, and only Charlotte’s Web comes close to matching it as a tale of friendship.
“I do not say there is no character as well drawn in Shakespeare as D’Artagnan. I do say there is none that I love so wholly.” –Robert Louis Stevenso.
Price:
$30,000.00