Dumas | Memoirs of a physician, London, 1847-1848, half calf

Alexandre Dumas

Memoirs of a physician. Part I, Joseph Balsamo. Vol. I (-III). London and Belfast: Simms & M'Intyre, 1847-1848

3 parts in one volume, 8vo (163 x 98mm.), contemporary half calf over marbled boards, marbled edges, lacking all three series titles and advertisement leaf at end of vol.1, vol.3 title-page and pp.13-16 and 55-58 slightly short, neatly rebacked

FIRST COMPLETE ENGLISH EDITION of Dumas's first novel in the Mémoires d'un médecin series, named for the Comte de Cagliostro, originally published from 1846. A partial English translation of just the first 57 chapters was advertised by George Peirce in 1846.

These volumes form part of Simms and M'Intyre's Parlour Library series (volumes 2, 10 and 16), which would have been announced at the start of each volume in the place of a half-title. The delay in publication between volumes 1 and 2 was caused by a lawsuit between Dumas and the periodical Le Constitutionnel.

This edition contains, on pp. 227-334, the English translation of Henriette Reybaud's The Two Marguerites.

LITERATURE

Monro p.125; Sadleir 3755A (entry for the Parlour Library)