The Count of Monte Cristo Complete and Unabridged Edition: 4 volumes in 1 (All four volumes in one)

by Alexandre Dumas

Overview

The Count of Monte Cristo (French: Le Comte de Monte-Cristo) is an adventure novel by French author Alexandre Dumas (père) completed in 1844. It is one of the author's more popular works, along with The Three Musketeers. Like many of his novels, it was expanded from plot outlines suggested by his collaborating ghostwriter Auguste Maquet. Another important work by Dumas, written before his work with Maquet, was the 1843 short novel Georges; this novel is of particular interest to scholars because Dumas reused many of the ideas and plot devices later in The Count of Monte Cristo.

The story takes place in France, Italy, and islands in the Mediterranean during the historical events of 1815-1839: the era of the Bourbon Restoration through the reign of Louis-Philippe of France. It begins just before the Hundred Days period (when Napoleon returned to power after his exile). The historical setting is a fundamental element of the book, an adventure story primarily concerned with themes of hope, justice, vengeance, mercy, and forgiveness. It centres on a man who is wrongfully imprisoned, escapes from jail, acquires a fortune, and sets about exacting revenge on those responsible for his imprisonment. His plans have devastating consequences for both the innocent and the guilty.

The book is considered a literary classic today. According to Luc Sante, "The Count of Monte Cristo has become a fixture of Western civilization's literature, as inescapable and immediately identifiable as Mickey Mouse, Noah's flood, and the story of Little Red Riding Hood."

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9782491251437
Publisher:	Les prairies numériques
Publication date:	07/29/2020
Pages:	884
Sales rank:	273,402
Product dimensions:	5.83(w) x 8.27(h) x 1.96(d)

About the Author

Alexandre Dumas ; born Dumas Davy de la Pailleterie ; 24 July 1802 - 5 December 1870), also known as Alexandre Dumas père (French for 'father'), was a French writer. His works have been translated into many languages, and he is one of the most widely read French authors. Many of his historical novels of high adventure were originally published as serials, including The Count of Monte Cristo, The Three Musketeers, Twenty Years After, and The Vicomte of Bragelonne: Ten Years Later. His novels have been adapted since the early twentieth century into nearly 200 films.

Prolific in several genres, Dumas began his career by writing plays, which were successfully produced from the first. He also wrote numerous magazine articles and travel books; his published works totalled 100,000 pages. In the 1840s, Dumas founded the Théâtre Historique in Paris.

His father, General Thomas-Alexandre Dumas Davy de la Pailleterie, was born in the French colony of Saint-Domingue (present-day Haiti) to Alexandre Antoine Davy de la Pailleterie, a French nobleman, and Marie-Cessette Dumas, a black slave. At age 14, Thomas-Alexandre was taken by his father to France, where he was educated in a military academy and entered the military for what became an illustrious career.

Dumas's father's aristocratic rank helped young Alexandre acquire work with Louis-Philippe, Duke of Orléans, then as a writer, finding early success. Decades later, after the election of Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte in 1851, Dumas fell from favour and left France for Belgium, where he stayed for several years, then moved to Russia for a few years before going to Italy. In 1861, he founded and published the newspaper L'Indépendent, which supported Italian unification, before returning to Paris in 1864.

Though married, in the tradition of Frenchmen of higher social class, Dumas had numerous affairs (allegedly as many as forty). In his lifetime, he was known to have at least four illegitimate children, although twentieth-century scholars found that Dumas fathered three other children out of wedlock. He acknowledged and assisted his son, Alexandre Dumas, to become a successful novelist and playwright. They are known as Alexandre Dumas père ('father') and Alexandre Dumas fils ('son'). Among his affairs, in 1866, Dumas had one with Adah Isaacs Menken, an American actress then less than half his age and at the height of her career.

The English playwright Watts Phillips, who knew Dumas in his later life, described him as "the most generous, large-hearted being in the world. He also was the most delightfully amusing and egotistical creature on the face of the earth. His tongue was like a windmill - once set in motion, you never knew when he would stop, especially if the theme was himself."

Table of Contents

1. The Arrival at Marseilles 3

2. Father and Son 10

3. The Catalans 17

4. The Plotters 26

5. The Betrothal Feast 31

6. The Deputy Procureur 45

7. The Examination 54

8. The Chøteau d'If 62

9. The Evening of the Betrothal 70

10. The Little Room in the Tuileries 74

11. The Corsican Ogre 81

12. Father and Son 88

13. The Hundred Days 94

14. In the Dungeons 100

15. Number 34 and Number 27 108

16. A Learned Italian 120

17. In the Abbø's Cell 130

18. The Treasure 150

19. The Death of the Abbø 161

20. The Cemetery of the Chøteau d'If 170

21. The Isle of Tiboulen 175

22. The Smugglers 183

23. The Isle of Monte Cristo 190

24. The Search 197

25. At Marseilles Again 203

26. The Inn of Pont du Gard 211

27. The Tale 225

28. The Prison Registers 237

29. The House of Morrel and Son 243

30. The Fifth of September 254

31. Italy: Sinbad the Sailor 267

32. The Awakening 286

33. Roman Bandits 292

34. Vampa 307

35. The Colosseum 317

36. La Mazzolata 339

37. The Carnival at Rome 350

38. The Catacombs of Saint Sebastian 364

39. The Rendezvous 377

40. The Guests 384

41. The Breakfast 389

42. The Presentation 407

43. Monsieur Bertuccio 418

44. The House at Auteuil 422

45. The Vendetta 428

46. The Rain of Blood 447

47. Unlimited Credit 459

48. The Dappled Greys 470

49. Ideology 483

50. Haydøe 492

51. The Morrel Family 497

52. Pyramus and Thisbe 505

53. Toxicology 517

54. Robert le Diable 531

55. A Talk about Stocks 548

56. Major Cavalcanti 558

57. Andrea Cavalcanti 567

58. At the Gate 578

59. M. Noirtier de Villefort 587

60. The Will 595

61. The Telegraph 604

62. The Bribe 611

63. Shadows 620

64. The Dinner 627

65. The Beggar 636

66. A Conjugal Scene 643

67. Matrimonial Plans 651

68. The OYce of the Procureur du Roi 659

69. A Summer Ball 668

70. The Inquiry 674

71. The Ball 682

72. Bread and Salt 688

73. Madame de Saint-Møran 692

74. The Promise 702

75. The Villefort Family Vault 723

76. A Signed Statement 730

77. Progress of M. Cavalcanti the Younger 740

78. Haydøe 748

79. Yanina 766

80. The Lemonade 784

81. The Accusation 795

82. The Room of the Retired Baker 799

83. The Burglary 815

84. The Hand of God 826

85. Beauchamp 831

86. The Journey 836

87. The Trial 843

88. The Challenge 854

89. The Insult 859

90. Mercødøs 867

91. The Meeting 873

92. The Mother and Son 883

93. The Suicide 888

94. Valentine 896

95. The Confession 902

96. The Father and Daughter 912

97. The Contract 919

98. The Departure for Belgium 928

99. The Inn of the Bell and Bottle 933

100. The Law 943

101. The Apparition 951

102. The Serpent 956

103. Valentine 961

104. Maximilian 965

105. Danglars' Signature 972

106. The Cemetery of the Pøre-la-Chaise 980

107. The Division 991

108. The Lions' Den 1003

109. The Judge 1009

110. The Assizes 1017

111. Expiation 1025

112. The Departure 1031

113. The House in the Alløes de Meillan 1035

114. Peppino 1053

115. Luigi Vampa's Bill of Fare 1061

116. The Pardon 1067

117. The Fifth of October 1071

Editorial Reviews

Chapter 114: Peppino

Danglars travels to Italy and presents Monte Cristo's receipt for five million francs to the firm of Thomas and French. He plans to use this money to resettle in Vienna rather than reimburse any of his creditors. Peppino, now one of Luigi Vampa's bandits, has been tipped off about the huge sum that Danglars is about to withdraw and follows Danglars to Thomson and French.

The next day, Vampa's bandits ambush Danglars as he rides from Rome to Venice. Danglars is presented to Vampa, who is busy reading Plutarch. Vampa places Danglars in a cell, comfortably made up with a bed. Danglars decides that the bandits would have killed him already if that had been their intent, so he concludes that he will most likely be held for ransom. As Danglars cannot imagine that the bandits would hold him for a sum anywhere near five million francs, he feels sure that all will work out well and goes to sleep contented.

Chapter 115: Luigi Vampa's Bill of Fare

The next day, Danglars is left alone in his cell and becomes extremely hungry. In response to his request for food, he is told that he can order any meal he wants, but that he must pay a ridiculously high price for it-one hundred thousand francs for any item. Reluctant but half-starved, he buys a chicken.

Chapter 116: The Pardon

The next day Danglars asks to see Vampa. Vampa tells Danglars that he is keeping him captive under someone else's orders and, therefore, can do nothing to alter the food situation. After twelve days, Danglars has used up all but fifty thousand of his francs buying food and drinks. He decides that he will save this last bit of money at any cost, and for days he eats nothing.

Finally, Danglars cries out for mercy, feeling he can take the hunger no more. A strangely familiar voice asks him if he repents his evil ways, and he swears that he does. Monte Cristo steps into the light and tells Danglars that he is forgiven. He reveals his true identity and then tells Danglars that he is free to go. Dumped by the side of the road, Danglars draws himself to a brook in order to drink and notices that his hair has gone white from terror.

Chapter 117: The Fifth of October

There is neither happiness nor misery in the world; there is only the comparison of one state with another.

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