Lowell Bair Books

The critically acclaimed biographer of Russian rulers and writers has now written a masterful work about the author whose novels, plays and memoirs depicted the working-class life in the pre-revolutionary and post-revolutionary eras. 16 pages of photos.

Designed to appeal to the book lover, the Macmillan Collector's Library is a series of beautifully bound pocket-sized gift editions of much loved classic titles. Bound in real cloth, printed on high quality paper, and featuring ribbon markers and gilt edges, Macmillan Collector's Library are books to love and treasure. The Count of Monte Cristo is the ultimate novel of retribution. Based on a true story, it recounts the story of Edouard Dantes, his betrayal and imprisonment in the sinister Chateau d'If. Years later, Paris is intrigued by the mysterious Count of Monte Cristo, who bursts onto the Paris social scene with his millions. He encounters the three principal betrayers of Dantes who have prospered in the post-Napoleonic boom and, one by one, their lives fall apart. The book was a huge, popular success when it was first serialized in 1844, and remains the greatest tale of revenge. Abridged, with an afterword by Marcus Clapham.

This edition is essentially that of Richard Aldington edited with reference to the French editions by André Morize and George R. Havens. Norman L. Torrey's introduction is a brief commentary on Voltaire's central purpose of reducing the doctrine of philosophical optimism to absurdity. Also included are a list of principal dates in the life of Voltaire and a selected bibliography.