Forty-Five

Alexandre Dumas — the elder (1802–1870) — a renowned French writer, playwright, and journalist. He was born in Villers-Cotterêts, a small town in northern France, into the family of General Thomas-Alexandre Dumas and Marie-Louise Laboure, the daughter of an innkeeper. Alexander spent his childhood and youth in his hometown, where he befriended a peer, Adolphe Léveillé; this acquaintance became fateful for the future writer. Léveillé wrote poetry and was passionate about theater; he was acquainted with many Parisian celebrities and often told his friend about life in the capital. Young Dumas was thrilled by his stories and decided to become a playwright, for which he moved to Paris after some time. There, the young man felt the gaps in his education, which he filled by reading classical works, memoirs, and historical chronicles. Dumas's plays began to be staged on theatrical stages. They enjoyed deafening success with the audience and made significant earnings, much to the delight of theater directors. After achieving recognition in the theatrical field, Dumas turned to writing articles and novels. The plots of his works often unfold against the backdrop of various events from French history. In writing them, Dumas studied historical documents, memoirs of famous figures, and chronicles of the required period. However, there is no absolute historical accuracy in his works: Dumas sought to make his novels as interesting as possible, wanting to fill them with exciting adventures, which is why he sometimes distorted facts for the sake of an intriguing plot. Such distortions are quite permissible in fiction that does not claim scientific accuracy. Dumas became one of the most read authors in the world, and his books are repeatedly reissued and translated into different languages even after his death. This edition contains his novel "Forty-Five." It was written in 1847 and became the concluding part of the trilogy about the Huguenot wars (after "Queen Margot" and "The Countess de Monsoreau").

The edition is adorned with illustrations and design elements created by three French artists of the 19th century. Jean-Adolphe Beauce (1818–1875) was a book illustrator, a painter of battle scenes, and one of the leading masters of the battle genre of his time. Diedonné Auguste Lancelot (1822–1895) became famous as a lithographer, engraver, book and magazine illustrator; his works were exhibited at the Salon (the prestigious Parisian art exhibition). The talented illustrator Edmond Coppin (1815–1899) became well known for his works accompanying the texts of Alexandre Dumas.