Books

London: Bruce and Wyld, 1846. Very good plus.. Rare first complete English translation of the classic swashbuckling adventure — the most acclaimed and influential of the early translations. First published in Paris in 1844, THE THREE MUSKETEERS appeared in England and America soon thereafter in a variety of shortened and serialized adaptations: first in two US translations, then serialized and abridged in the UK by Vickers. Barrow's version here, published as part of the Library of Foreign Romance series, is traditionally labeled the earliest complete English translation because Vickers omits "the account of the dinner at Maitre Coquenard's" plus "much of the original French version is compressed"; further, "an entirely new chapter which Dumas had not written is gratuitously interpolated before the final one" (Munro, 80-1). But most importantly, Barrow's translation was the most widely read, among the best for more than a century, and handled with verve and a charming touch…