Dumas | Chateau d'If, The Count of Monte Christo, Belfast, 1846, 3 volumes, half calf

Alexandre Dumas

A uniform set of the Chateau d'If and the Count of Monte Cristo, comprising:

The Chateau d'If: a romance... translated from the French by Emma Hardy. Belfast: Simms & McIntyre, 1846, without final blank leaf, small tear in first three leavesThe Count of Monte Christo [sic]... being a sequel to the Chateau d'If. Belfast: Simms & McIntyre, 1846, 2 volumes, without final leaf (blank?)

together 3 volumes, 8vo (158 x 98mm.), contemporary half calf over marbled boards, spines gilt with morocco lettering-pieces, all lacking descriptive series title, occasional light foxing or staining, spines slightly rubbed and creased, spine of Chateau d'If slightly chipped

This is considered to be the FIRST ENGLISH EDITION OF THE COUNT OF MONTE CRISTO; however there was another translation printed in 1846, by Chapman & Hall, and it is possible that they were issued in parallel, with Emma Hardy's translation of the Chateau d'If appearing earlier (on 1 April 1846) but the two volumes of The Count of Monte Cristo a few months later (September-October 1846), perhaps after the Chapman & Hall version by an unknown translator. The original French version was just under the title Le Comte de Monte-Cristo, published from August 1844 to January 1846. It is possible that the publisher chose to issue the first volume with the title Chateau d'If following an abbreviated English version by Ainsworth, published in 1845 with the title The prisoner of If, as well as indicating that it was a standalone novel.

These three volumes formed part of the Parlour Novelist series (volumes 3, 8 and 9 respectively), the forerunner of the more substantial Parlour Library. At the end of the first volume, the publishers' preface states that if that volume sells well, they will also publish the following volumes.

LITERATURE

Munro p.93; Sadleir 3754 (entry for the Parlour Novelist), nos 3, 8 and 9