Alexandre Dumas — La Colombe

Bruxelles , Librairie du Pantheon, 1850. First edition. Cloth. An exceptionally scarce first edition of this slim volume from Alexandre Dumas, preceding the first publication in France. The first edition, preceding the book's first publication in France under the title Histoire d'une colombe (1851). Vanishingly scarce. No copies appear in previous auctions, and only one copy is recorded on Jisc, held by the University of Manchester. Bound in contemporary quarter cloth, with marbled paper covered boards. Bound with half title.La Colombe effectively serves as a sequel to Le comte de Moret, related in the form of letters and dealing with the imagined fate of the Count. The period covered by La Colombe, according to the dating of the letters, was 5 May 1637 to 10 September 1638, although their contents covered events both at, as well as after, the battle of Castelnaudary.From French novelist and playwright Alexandre Dumas, one of the most widely read French authors with stand-out titles including The Count of Monte Cristo, The Three Musketeers and Twenty Years After.The writing of a story in the form of letters is a most unusual one for Dumas, but it worked successfully. Bound in contemporary quarter cloth, with marbled paper covered boards. Externally, with rubbing to the extremities, otherwise smart. Internally, last page working loose, otherwise firmly bound. Loss to the half title. Pages are generally bright and clean, with toning in a few places and the odd spot. Very Good . Ill.: None. Very Good .