Dumas, Alexander | One of the earliest editions, with numerous plates

Dumas, Alexander

Le Comte de Monte-Cristo. Paris: Bureaux du Journal Le Siecle, 1846

Large 8vo (305 x 215 mm). Frontispiece portrait, 29 engraved plates on thicker paper by Gavarni, Johannot and others, text in two columns; text leaves lightly toned and with stray spots, offsetting to and from the plates. Bound in contemporary quarter morocco over marbled boards, spine lettered and decorated in gilt, marbled endpapers; hinges cracked but holding, rubbed at extremities.

One of the earliest editions of The Count of Monte Cristo—a classic of the French literary canon and one of the most enduring novels of the nineteenth century. The present edition, illustrated with numerous plates, is not in the OCLC or the Bibliotheque Nationale de France. This is evidently the first copy to come to auction in over fifty years. Rare.