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As published in Vol. VIII of Oeuvres de Alex. Dumas, pp. [287]-599. Text in 2 columns. Vols. VII & VIII of the set are both offered. 11x7, original cloth, spines lettered in gilt.

Rare, early piracy of Les Trois Mousquetaires, published the same year as the regularly published first edition put out by Baudry in 1844, and possibly predating it. The original publication of Mousquetaires was in serial form, in the Parisian Daily Le Siècle, from March 14 to July 14, 1844. Its popularity soon eclipsed all of Dumas' previous romances, and as Dumas bibliographer Frank Wild Reed notes in his article for The Colophon New Series, Vol. III, No. 3, Summer 1938 ("Dumas Revises `The Three Musketeers'"), "Almost with every day excitement and enthusiasm grew; soon this intriguing story was the principal topic of conversation, completely submerging even the news of the brief war in Morocco." Further, he notes that "Issue by issue of Le Siècle was hastily acquired by the piratical publishers of Brussels, and as quickly the portion of Les Trois Mousquetaires which it contained was set up by them in type; then, as sufficient to form a volume accumulated, this was given to the public..." Thus the several piracies from Brussels publishers, including this one issued in a set of Dumas' Works, contained the original text (with perhaps a few typographical mishaps) as issued in the newspaper appearances. Most of the known Belgium piracies are quite small, generally 12mo; the present 4to set must be one of the larger of the early piracies.