The Count of Monte-Cristo. by Dumas, Alexandre [Alexander] - 1846

New York: Burgess, Stringer and Company, 1846. First American edition of the author's masterpiece. Octavo, contemporary three quarters calf over marbled boards, marbled endpapers, two volumes bound in one. Separate title page for each volume. Complete with twelve illustrated plates. In very good condition with the previous owner's signature of volume one. First editions in the English language are rare, with Yale being the only library to house a copy of this first edition. The Count of Monte Cristo, in particular, is "perhaps the outstanding work of fiction to reveal the futility of human vengeance, even when it attains its utmost completeness. Maurice Baring calls it the most popular book in the world" (Frank Wild Reed). "One of the best thrillers ever written" (Reid, 134).