The Three Musketeers the Complete and Unabridged Original Classic Edition in Large Print

Book excerpt: This premium quality large print edition contains the complete and unabridged classic version of The Three Musketeers, printed on heavyweight, bright white paper in a large 7.44"x9.69" format, with a fully laminated full-color cover featuring an original design. One of the most widely-read and best-known historical adventure novels of all time, The Three Musketeers has delighted readers for generations since it first appeared in 1844. Filled with action and adventure, the novel depicts actual historical events more closely than most would imagine. Dumas' wit and sense of humor is woven throughout, creating a highly entertaining and thoroughly enjoyable tale which has become a truly timeless classic with readers around the world. The year is 1625 and France is ruled by King Louis XIII, weak, indecisive, and heavily influenced by his Minister, Cardinal Richelieu. Young D'Artagnan, brash and provincial, arrives in Paris hoping to become a member of the King's Musketeers, and almost immediately offends three members of that elite corps, Porthos, Aramis, and Athos. Arranging separate but virtually simultaneous duels with each, the four meet but instead of dueling among themselves they band together when attacked by the Cardinal's guards. The four become fast friends, and, when asked by D'Artagnan's landlord to find his missing wife, embark upon a series of adventures that embroils them in the intrigues of the Royal Court and the machinations of Cardinal Richelieu and his most dangerous agent, a beautiful young spy known simply as "Milady," who will stop at nothing to disgrace the Queen, advance the agenda of her master, and take her revenge upon the four friends who have interfered with her schemes. Alexandre Dumas (born Dumas Davy de la Pailleterie, 1802-1870), was a French playwright, novelist, essayist and magazine and travelogue writer. One of the most widely read French authors, his works have been translated into nearly 100 languages. Best known today for his historical adventure novels, including The Count of Monte Cristo and The Three Musketeers, his works, comprising some 100,000 pages, have been the basis for nearly 200 films. Dumas' father, a General born in Saint-Domingue (present-day Haiti) to a French nobleman and an African slave, used his aristocratic rank to help Alexandre secure a position with Louis-Philippe, Duke of Orl�ans. With the accession of Louis-Napol�on in 1851, Dumas fell out of favor, moving to Belgium for several years before relocating to Russia and then Italy before returning to Paris in 1864. The married Dumas carried on numerous affairs, perhaps with as many as forty different women, fathering at least four and possibly as many as seven illegitimate children, including a boy named after him. This son, a successful novelist and playwright, became known as Alexandre Dumas, fils (son), while the father became known as Alexandre Dumas, p�re (father). His last novel, The Knight of Sainte-Hermine, unfinished at his death, was completed by another writer and published in 2005, becoming a bestseller. In 2008 a translation was published in English as The Last Cavalier.